Simple and Clean
by Vashkoda
Summary: Orihime is on the verge of being rescued from Las Noches, when things take an unexpected turn. Now she and the resurrected Espada find themselves without memory of who they really are as they try to make their way back to Aizen.
1. Chapter 1

**BLEACH: SIMPLE AND CLEAN**

**by Vashkoda**

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or its characters.

Author's Note: I wasn't really planning on writing more Bleach fanfic, but I keep finding all these delightful stories, and they've inspired me to explore more creativity demons. So I am dedicating this one to all authors in my favorites lists, and to those who are kind enough to give me reviews and keep me motivated.

The title comes from Utada Hikaru's song of the same name, as any _Kingdom Hearts_ fan knows. It will probably have very little to do with the story, but it seems to fit the main character's innocence.

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Orihime couldn't believe her ears. Shocked, she stood so perfectly still that Ulquiorra had to enter her cage and prod her see if she had been paying attention.

"Woman!" he repeated, his tone now clearly irritated. "I said your friends have arrived to save you. Come, we're going."

"W-what d-did you say?" the girl asked, her voice quavering.

Rather than repeat himself a third time, the Fourth Espada grabbed her roughly by the shoulder and dragged her into the corridor.

Orihime wouldn't have registered the reply even if he had offered one. Her thoughts were all a jumble, as several little voices struggled to make themselves heard.

* * *

"All right! Soon we'll be rescued!" cheered Shun'ou, reaching out to hug the nearest person--which happened to be Tsubaki. She managed to twirl him in the air around once before he forced himself free, sputtering at the indignation.

"Gah, get off me, woman! And stop your ridiculous prancing. We're still in great danger!"

His words caused the other Shun Shun Rikka to stop their own impromptu celebrations and look at him worriedly. Although they were still physically in the shape of twin hairpins, the fairy-like creatures could also manifest themselves in the landscape of Orihime's soul any time they chose, as they did now. The place usually took the form of a bright field of flowers, but ever since the girl had been taken to Las Noches, the skies had been overcast and threatening to rain.

"You don't think that Espada is going to hurt Orihime, do you?" asked Baigon, settling his round body on a sturdy sunflower.

"That wouldn't be logical," argued Hinagiku. "If he wanted to kill her, he wouldn't need to take her out of her cell."

"Ooo, I bet he's taking her away so they can escape together!" cried Lily, clapping her hands in excitement. "It's so romantic! I bet he has a secret castle hidden under the desert. And since everything is opposite underground, maybe it's daytime there instead of night!--and there will be lovely things growing in the garden, not to mention the kitch-"

"Stop it!" shouted Tsubaki, on the verge of slapping her. "That's enough out of you! The last thing Orihime needs right now is to be daydreaming about more of your crazy notions."

"Right. Instead, she ought to be scared out of her wits?" asked Shun'ou, arching an eyebrow. "Because with the five of us arguing, Ayame's is the only voice she's going to hear."

They all turned to look at the diminutive female. She actually wasn't saying anything, but the wings tightly wrapped around her shivering body spoke volumes.

* * *

"Um...Ulquiorra-san?" asked Orihime fearfully. "What are you doing?"

As usual, the Espada's face was blank and unreadable, but she thought he sounded amused.

"I am following Aizen-sama's orders. Why, you didn't think I was taking you to see your friends, did you?" He continued to pull her after him.

"B-but then where are we going?"

* * *

"We can't just let him take Orihime who-knows-where," argued Shun'ou. "We have to do something!"

"That's right--it's time to fight!" cried Tsubaki, slamming his fists together.

"Yes, we already know what _you_ think," drawled Shun'ou, rolling her eyes. "Anyone else agree with him?"

Without any support from the others, they all knew that Tsubaki wouldn't have enough strength to do much damage. Shun'ou did not seem to agree with him this time, despite their alliances in the past. He turned imploringly to Baigon, who only half-lifted his hand. No one else even looked at him. Tsubaki huffed and crossed his arms out in front of him.

"We don't have to _fight_ him, _per se_," observed Hinagiku, reminding them that they had other options. "If Orihime can manage to escape, she might be lucky enough to run into Ichigo and the others. They must be close by if the Espada is in such a hurry to leave."

"Right, like that's going to work," muttered Tsubaki.

"It can't hurt to try," snapped back Hinagiku.

"I feel sorry for Ichigo," spoke up Ayame, her soft voice startling the others into momentary silence. "He keeps having to risk himself to protect Orihime, and it makes her feel like such a burden."

"She was worried about being useless even before she was captured," added Hinagiku in agreement.

"And what does that say about us?" remarked Baigon with a heavy sigh. "_We're_ the ones who are useless if we can't help Orihime."

"I know!" cried Lily excitedly, hopping up and down. "What if instead of running away to find Ichigo, we ran away to find that weapon of Aizen-sama's and erase it with our powers! Then Orihime would have something to be proud of."

Hinagiku glowered at her. "I thought we had agreed to drop that crazy scheme of yours. Do you honestly think that Aizen-sama is the type of fool to leave his greatest treasure unprotected?"

Tsubaki suddenly showed signs of interest. "So maybe there's a guardian of some kind that we'd have to destroy?"

"Just forget that stupid plan and let's be serious! Protecting Orihime is our main priority, and that means bringing her to Ichigo. Don't you agree, Baigon? Lily?" The one-eyed male looked at his fellow Shun Shun Rika hopefully, only to see that they were now all gathered around Tsubaki, discussing ways to distract the Espada and find the Orb of Distortion.

"Oh. Oh dear."

* * *

Orihime knew that she should be afraid, but for some strange reason, she was filled with excitement. Ichigo was here, which meant he had survived, despite all the forces Aizen had pitted against him. She could feel other familiar reiatsu at the edges of her senses--Renji, Rukia, Chad, Uryuu. She would never have forgiven herself if anything had happened to those who had come all this way to rescue her. It was bad enough that she had made them worry, but soon... soon everything would be all right.

But it would be up to her to make sure.

Ulquiorra glanced back at her and gave her an odd look. "The fear has left you, woman. Are you now resolved to your fate?"

"And what fate would that be? You still haven't told me where you're taking me."

The Espada narrowed his eyes slightly and looked away. He resumed guiding her down the halls of Las Noches in silence. As this had become characteristic behavior for her guardian, Orihime allowed herself to led, no longer expecting an answer. Her eyes darted to the white columns and passageways of the enemy's stronghold, trying to keep track of where they were going. She hoped she might recognize the path they had taken the day that Aizen had shown her the Orb.

"Tell me," he said suddenly, startling her out of her thoughts. "What is heaven like?"

Orihime stared blankly at his back until he stopped and again turned to look at her with his bright turquoise eyes. She had gotten to know him well enough that she could now read signs of concern in his face, though whether it was for him, or for her, she couldn't say.

"Um...heaven? I-I'm not sure, Ulquiorra-san. I think there are clouds, a-and these people with wings and gold circles over their heads." It was a strange subject to talk about, but Orihime felt better just hearing herself speaking out loud. During her imprisonment, she had been drowning in silence, with only the voices in her head to keep her company. She kept babbling on, "I think they play harps there, which must sound very pretty, but I don't think I've ever heard one. And everything is white, and the people dress in white-" She paused with a frown, confused by the connection such a cheerful place apparently shared with Las Noches.

"Do not lie to me, woman. I know that you have been to the _Soul Society_, and that it is not as you describe."

The girl's mouth hung open. "Soul Society? But that's not..."

It was an odd kind of epiphany. On some level, she had recognized that Soul Society was populated by spirits of the dead, yet it hadn't really struck her that that was the real heaven, and that the version she had seen on television was a lie. It saddened her in a way, as the heaven she had visited was a far stretch from the paradise she had always envisioned. She thought it must be very disheartening for souls to find themselves there when they die.

"Why are you asking me this, Ulquiorra-san?"

Rather than answer, he stopped at the end of the hall and motioned her forward. "We are here."

_Here?_ she wondered in a panic. No, she couldn't let herself be trapped anywhere with Ulquiorra. She had to hurry and devise a way to escape him so that she could find the-

The Orb of Distortion sat on a marble pedestal in the middle of the room. Orihime couldn't believe her eyes, or her good fortune. Ulquiorra had taken her straight to it!

"Your friends should be here any moment," he said solemnly.

"Ulquiorra-san," she whispered, wondering if her captor had now suddenly become her savior. Hope blossomed inside Orihime as she estimated how much their chances of success would improve if he joined her side.

That thought was cut short as the Espada quickly drew his blade and pressed it lightly against her throat.

"Remain still."

He reached over with his free hand to pick up the small violet sphere and grasped it firmly. Orihime hadn't dared to move, and watched him with widened eyes as he met her gaze.

"The shinigami have come for the Hougyoku ...and for you. But Aizen-sama will not suffer to let them have both." He turned his head to stare at the darkened corridor behind them, as if he could already see his enemy approaching.

"Ulquiorra-san, y-you don't have to obey him!" she said urgently, hoping he wouldn't punish her for speaking. "You're more than just a hollow--I know because you've been taking care of me, and I've seen how you worry when I don't eat. The others scare me, but I've always felt safe with you. I know you don't want to hurt me!"

The Espada's expression turned grim. "Woman, have I ever done anything to make you think I would betray my master?"

"N-no, but I-"

"Good." The man then surprised her by smiling, revealing sharp white teeth. "I would hate to learn that my trust was misplaced."

She heard the rush of footsteps a mere second before the group materialized in front of them.

"Orihime!" shouted Ichigo, his clothes in tatters and his body caked with blood. The relief in his voice was tempered by caution as he took in their precarious situation. At his sides were the rest of her friends and a handful of people she recognized, and some she did not.

"Your loyalty to me had remained in doubt, although with time, I knew your obedience would be absolute, as it was with my poor Momo," Ulquiorra said, leaning over to speak softly in her ear so that only Orihime could hear him. He then moved aside to study the newcomers, although his eyes never left the blade aimed at her throat.

"Here is another betrayal that was not entirely unexpected."

"Ulquiorra!? You bastard, I thought we'd already killed you!" growled Grimmjow, shaking a bloody fist at him. Orihime gasped in surprise to see the fierce Espada standing alongside her friends. Had he really come to help them? And what did he mean about Ulquiorra being dead?

"I advise you to leash that pet of yours," her captor said, sounding perfectly calm. "I might get distracted and accidentally cut this lovely young lady."

_Ulquiorra thought she was lovely?_ Orihime almost blushed at the thought, except that, of course, the man was currently holding a sword to her neck. Regrettably, that forced her to put things into perspective.

Could she really have been so wrong about her captor? Had she only imagined the kindness she had seen in his eyes? Perhaps he was being deceptive because Aizen was watching from somewhere close by. Maybe this was an act staged for his benefit, and Ulquiorra, like Grimmjow, would change sides at the very last moment.

She watched as it took Ichigo, Chad, and several shinigami to hold back Grimmjow, who looked ready to tear out his fellow Espada's heart. Orihime's attention was then drawn back to Ulquiorra, as he again whispered words in her ear.

"Woman, it's time for you to repay my generous hospitality. You already know what I want from you." Keeping a firm grip on the Orb, he held it out in front of her. Orihime wondered if he was ready to end the charade and hand it over directly, but when she reached out to take it, he tightened his hold on the sword. She hissed in pain as the blade bit ever so slightly into her flesh.

_I'm so confused--I don't know who to trust, or what's real any more!_ she cried mentally.

_No,_ she realized, _there is_ one _thing I know for sure. I have to use my Shun Shun Rikka to unmake the Hougyoku! _

At last finding her resolve, she summoned her reiatsu. The pins in her hair flashed and were replaced by six fairy-like creatures.

"There will be no tricks, woman. I am watching you closely."

Orihime nodded silently, while she turned her eyes pleadingly towards the small beings hovering over her head. She hoped they had read her thoughts and knew what she intended. To her surprise it was Hinagiku, and not Shun'ou or Tsubaki, who landed on her shoulder to advise her. His single eye locked onto hers, and somehow she was able to hear him in her mind.

_"This is not the path I would have chosen, but it seems I am alone in this regard. Very well. To utterly undo the existence of an object--as you are requesting--Tsubaki, Shun'ou and Ayame must combine their abilities to form a destructive field. It is a powerful move which you have not yet learned, so you will have to say its name aloud; 'Santen Kisshun, I reject'. The name sounds very similar to Souten Kisshun, your normal healing technique. I can only hope that the Espada doesn't notice."_

"Hai, Ulquiorra-san," she said nervously. All eyes in the room were now on the three Shun Shun Rikka poised over the Hougyoku. Orihime drew a deep breath.

"SANTEN KISSHUN, I REJECT!!"

There was a flash of light and of pain, and Orihime staggered back in surprise. When her vision cleared, she saw that Ulquiorra's sword was no longer at her throat, but lowered in front of him, as if he had just struck a blow. The Orb of Distortion still shimmered intact in his other hand.

There was no trace of the three Shun Shun Rikka who had once hovered over it.

Ulquiorra glared at her furiously. Out of the corner of her eye, Orihime saw Ichigo and the others rush forward. Before they could reach her, and before the girl could recover from her shock and command the other fairies into a defensive shield, the Fourth Espada was on her.

The pain she had just felt from losing three integral parts of her soul could not compare to the horrible sensation she was feeling now, as her captor reached into her body and ripped out what remained of it. As he shook her spirit form like a rag doll, she caught a glimpse of her body dangling from a silver chain connected to her chest. She had seen something similar once before, the night her brother Sora had become a hollow and attacked her.

"You _dare!_" shouted Ulquiorra, now lifting his sword. Orihime offered no resistance. All she could think about was the fact that she had now lost three of her Shun Shun Rikka, and that without Shun'ou and Ayame, she had no chance of bringing any of them back.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" shouted Ichigo, at least reaching her side. He raised Zangetsu to deflect the downward stroke of Ulquiorra's blade, but was then unable to block the kick aimed at his side, which launched him straight across the room.

As if there had been no interruption, Ulquiorra then proceeded to severe Orihime's soul chain with his sword. The girl still hung limply in his grasp, and stared down at the broken links with barely a hint of understanding. Ulquiorra smiled--an expression she had once longed to see, and now dreaded.

"If you will not serve me as a human, perhaps you will bend to my will ...as a hollow slave."

As he raised the Hougyoku to her, he was suddenly knocked aside by Grimmjow, forcing him to release her. As she felt herself falling, Orihime was vaguely aware of Uryuu catching her, and Rukia rushing to their side.

"Can't you do something?" she heard the Quincy plead.

Rukia shook her head in frustration. "Her soul chain's been cut--it's already too late to save her."

Orihime had trouble focusing her vision. She was certain that explained why she thought she had just seen Ulquiorra morphing into Aizen, who was simultaneously fighting Ichigo, Grimmjow, and several shinigami captains. She could hear the howls of arrancar and other powerful hollows as they came tearing through the walls. Rukia remained kneeling at Orihime's side, as Uryuu shot arrows in rapid succession at anything that moved in their direction.

"Orihime, I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do to save you," said Rukia, choking back tears. "Maybe Urahara would know, but we can't afford to wait and look for him. As you are, you're vulnerable to the Hougyoku, and we have to get you away from Aizen as quickly as possible."

She was barely aware of Rukia sorrowfully drawing her zanpakuto and pressing the pommel softly against her forehead.

"Orihime, we'll come find you as soon as we take care of things here. When you get to Soul Society, find Jidanbou; he'll be able to help you."

The auburn-haired girl felt herself nod, although she was absorbing very little of what her friend was saying.

_Jidanbou..._ _what a funny sounding word._

As Orihime felt her consciousness spiraling into darkness, she caught the briefest glimpse of a black butterfly landing on her outstretched hand.

* * *

A.N. - It seems there aren't many Orihime fans out there, so I guess most people would be thrilled if the story ended here. Let me know if you feel otherwise. 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or its characters.

A.N.: Since you asked for it, here's another chapter. Thanks for the reviews! I'll keep your requests in mind, as I haven't yet decided where this fic will go.

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Orihime awoke in a daze, surprised to look up and a find a bright blue sky overhead; although she couldn't remember why such a thing should strike her as unusual. She was also dismayed to find her body weak and in incredible pain. As she slowly struggled to lift herself from the ground, she noticed something wet pooling around her in the dust, and assumed from the way she was feeling that it must be her blood.

"Happy birthday!" said a cheerful voice behind her. Orihime twisted her neck around in surprise--a move that earned her another jolt of pain--and saw a young boy wearing a worn tunic and leather sandals standing only a few feet away. Drops of what she hoped was water still fell from the wooden bucket he held loosely in one hand. The proud smile on his face showed not the least bit of remorse for having just emptied said bucket over her while she slept.

"Aww, Riku got to her first!" said another child, sounding out of breath as he struggled to carry a second bucket without spilling its contents. A few other children appeared seemingly out of thin air, and Orihime suppressed the rising urge to flee as she found herself suddenly surrounded by so many unfamiliar faces. _They're only children,_ she tried reasoning to herself, although there was an aged look in their eyes that was very out of place in ones so young.

"E-excuse me, but can you tell me where I am, and what's going on?"

The first boy nodded knowingly, as if expecting her reaction. "The hell butterfly just brought you here a minute ago, and we all raced to see who would be the first to wish you happy birthday." As he said this, he made the motion of emptying the bucket on her.

Orihime suspected that she still looked confused, as one of the girls noticed her expression and giggled, then quickly explained, "It's the traditional way to welcome people when they're reborn into the Soul Society. The water is supposed to wash away your old life."

"And wake you up," added the smiling boy.

Orihime sighed as she suddenly remembered flashes of her last moments alive: Ichigo and the others fighting Ulquiorra--or was it Aizen?--while enemies surrounded them on all sides. One of her hairpins--now forever empty of its petals--tinkling faintly as it bounced lightly against the ground. Uryuu and Rukia comforting her as she stared blankly at her severed soul chain.

"No..." she whispered in denial, clenching her fists. "It's not my birthday. It's my _death_day."

The grin finally left the boy's face. "You shouldn't think of it like that," he advised her solemnly. "This is a chance for a fresh start. Plus life is better on this side. You don't have to worry about food or finding a place to sleep. You can do whatever you feel like, and as long as you're not bothering anybody, they let you get away with anything."

"This isn't as bad as _some_ districts," remarked the second boy. "The rich folk hire guards, so people usually go elsewhere if they want to cause trouble."

"I- I'm sorry, but can I please be alone? This is too much...too much for me to deal with right now."

The children exchanged glum looks, then nodded and skittered off.

_That was foolish of me_, she realized as she found herself alone in the middle of the street. _They may be my only friends in this world, and I've just sent them away._

* * *

"That was very foolish of her," grumbled Hinagiku disapprovingly. "We still need information, and now we have no one to ask."

Baigon gave him a stern look. "Give her a little time to collect herself," he rumbled in his usual deep voice. "It isn't an easy thing, finding out you've died."

"No, nothing fun--or funny--about it at all," said Lily sadly, plopping herself onto a rose petal with a disheartening sigh. "Poor Orihime."

"Yes yes, what happened _is_ very sad," acknowledged the one-eyed fairy with a grimace. "But we can't afford to let our guard down. This is the _Soul Society_," he emphasized, making sure he had their attention. "You remember how dangerous people are around here. Uncivilized ruffians and pig-riding brutes, and let's not forget the maniacs with swords who we ran into on our last visit."

"But those were our friends!" cried Baigon in surprise.

"Even more reason to be worried. Can you imagine what our enemies might be like?"

Lily pouted. "You're acting all strict and mean, Hinagiku. It's like you're trying to be the leader, now that Ayame is gone."

The tall Shun Shun Rikka crossed his arms defiantly, as if daring them to challenge him. "Well, someone needs to be in charge. If Baigon had his way, Orihime would probably stay locked up in a room somewhere for the rest of her life, safe from harm, only to starve to death. And if _you _were the one controlling Orihime-" he added, pointing an accusatory finger at the female, "she would live in constant denial of reality and the danger she's in. She'd likely say or do something stupid in front of the wrong person and get herself killed."

Lily looked furious. "I bet you're _happy_ Ayame, Tsubaki and Shin'ou got killed, aren't you?" she said, seething. "Maybe you even had something to do with it-"

Lily flinched as Hinagiku threw back his arm and made as if to strike her, but at the last moment, he found his hand caught in Baigon's vice-like grip.

"You're right about me," the stocky fairy said, maintaining his hold. "My main concern is protecting Orihime at all costs. But you forget, Hinagiku, that Lily is a part of Orihime's spirit, just as you are, and I will not allow you to harm her."

Hinagiku tried unsuccessfully to free himself, then at last nodded acceptance to Baigon, who finally let him go.

"You should remember that I argued _against_ their plan to destroy the orb," he growled, massaging his wrist. "What happened to them was their own damn fault."

Then, as if in response to their sullen moods, the sky inside Orihime's soul began to rain.

* * *

Orihime couldn't stop the tears from falling. She noticed people staring at her when they thought she wasn't looking, but no one else approached and offered to help her. It was probably a common enough sight in the land of the dead, and they all had their own reasons to feel miserable.

She fled into an alley and collapsed against a mud-brick wall. Her choking sobs continued until she had nothing left inside her and she was too exhausted to make a sound.

Dusk darkened into night, but Orihime was barely aware of her surroundings. As the children had said, she hardly felt the need for sleep. Unfortunately, hunger was a call her body hadn't forgotten, and as the days passed, she found herself unable to think about anything else. After a week, she finally stumbled out of the alley in search of food.

She soon learned that in heaven, like the real world, nothing was free. The vendors cast her wary looks, and when she reached out to simply to touch a piece of fruit, they swatted her hands away and demanded to see her money. She almost fled back into the alley after the first time, but strangely, she found herself no longer as easily intimidated as she used to be. It was an odd feeling--exposing herself to potential danger and no longer caring what might happen to her. Oh, she recognized well enough what the risks were when she snuck behind an apple stand and swiped a pair when the owner wasn't looking. Even if she hadn't witnessed the consequences the very next day, when a youth was caught for a similar theft and hauled away in chains, in her mind she had no trouble imagining multiple scenarios--some involving killer robots or sword-wielding aliens--warning her what might happen. It wasn't just that she didn't care about herself, but she no longer seemed to care about anything. All of the feelings she used to keep bundled inside her had been released when she cried her heart and soul out in that alley. Or maybe that part of herself had simply washed away with that first bucketful of water.

Her near-suicidal raids on the market vendors were not done out of courage, either. Once, she might have done something equally daring if she thought it was worth the risk, especially if she felt convinced it was the right thing to do. She knew that she used to have a store of courage inside her that she could draw on at need to help her fight back. _Used to_... She stole food now because it was the only way to stay alive, not because she had something to prove. Now, if danger threatened her, she wouldn't hesitate to run. Her sense of self-preservation had grown stronger than her sense of justice.

It wasn't just her fighting spirit or her ability to feel emotion that had been lost, either. More than anything, what Orihime missed was her determination; her sense of purpose. In the past, there had always been a little voice inside her head that helped guide her decisions, convincing her that she was doing the right thing. Now that voice was silent, and Orihime felt lost. The cold logic that she faced each morning as she outlined what she would need to pilfer just to continue surviving in the Rukongai was a poor substitute for the pride and joy she used to feel when she had accomplished something worthwhile.

Was mere survival enough of a reason to go on? A part of her seemed to think so, because no matter how many times she considered it, she couldn't seem to give up on herself.

Maybe the problem was simply that she no longer had any friends who depended on her, or who she could depend on. She used to have friends--she remembered that much--but as the days passed, she forgot more and more of her old life. Sometimes she wondered if those memories were even real, or just one of her odd imaginings.

Then one day, she happened to draw the attention of a tailor as she passed in front of her shop. The woman called out to Orihime to stop, and asked to see her white dress.

"My dear, where did you get this material?" As she knelt to examine it closer, she remarked, "It is as fine as the silk the Shinigami use for their uniforms, yet I have never seen a thread with such shine."

Orihime had no information to give her, although it wasn't the first time someone had noted the rich quality of her dress. It was one reason some vendors trusted her enough to let her get near their stalls, not expecting someone as wealthy as she pretended to be to need to resort to stealing. Unfortunately, it also made her very recognizable, and she feared that guards might soon be given a description of her dress and be on the lookout for it.

"I'll sell it to you if you'd like," Orihime offered quickly, seeing a solution to both her money problems and her risk of being recognized. The tailor seemed shocked that she would be willing to part with it. That made Orihime hesitate a little herself; the strange material had done a good job keeping her warm at night, despite the cold. Yet she often felt strangely uneasy whenever she looked down at her dress, as if it stirred dark memories from her past.

The storekeeper studied her carefully, as if trying to decide whether Orihime could be fooled into selling it cheaply. "I'll give you fifty silvers for it," she finally said.

Orihime opened her mouth in surprise--it was far more than she would have expected. The tailor must have thought she was ready to protest instead, and hastened to add, "I'd give you more, but I expect you'll need new clothes to change into since you'll be handing me yours. The fifty is what's left after I deduct for them--everything we sell is of the finest quality, of course."

Orihime was shown a selection of apparel, and while she longed to try the beautiful dresses and high-heeled shoes, she knew that she should instead choose something practical for keeping herself warm and able to move freely. She finally settled on navy-blue robes and a comfortable pair of dark leather boots. She was awed by the weight of the coins the tailor handed her, and tried to calculate how much food it would buy her.

"I can't tell you how pleased I am to have a chance to study this thread," the tailor confided. "There's a pair of men I've spotted on occasion who wear robes very similar to this, but I confess I've never had the courage to ask them where they got it."

Orihime looked up from her coins to stare at the woman, who at the same time, seemed to have realized the significance of her words.

"Oh! Maybe you know each other?"

Orihime thought immediately about the friends she remembered having in the past. Were these them? Would she be able to recognize the men if she saw them? Would they recognize her?

"Please, do you think you could show me where you saw them?" Orihime asked her, growing excited. The tailor grinned delightedly, for the excitement was contagious.

"It's so rare to rediscover the people you once knew in life. I would love to help you get reunited with your family."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or its characters.

A.N.: I should probably space these out, but I finished another chapter and figured, why not? Thanks again for any past or future reviews. I know it takes some effort, and I myself have stories bookmarked that I still need to comment on. And thanks to all you great writers out there whose stories keep me motivated to keep my own project going.

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Orihime walked cautiously towards the tall white building the tailor had shown her. Nothing else moved through that quiet street, as if the structure itself was enough to keep people away.

Up close, she was surprised to spot the peeling paint and the cracked wooden planks that were so common in the ordinary homes of the Rukongai. The spell of intimidation broken, Orihime braced herself and knocked purposefully on the old weathered door.

The door swung open and a giant hand reached out and seized her, dragging her inside before she could scream in alarm. When the door slammed shut, she was enveloped in darkness, trapped alone with the hand's owner.

She caught a whiff of sulfur as a match was struck, and suddenly she could see a face outlined in flickering light. Before she could think of where she had seen those turquoise-green eyes before, she breathed out a name.

_"Ulquiorra."_

The eyes flickered in recognition.

"Yammy, release her."

The hand let go immediately. The room was soon illuminated as the match struck several torches.

"You know who this is, Ulquiorra?" asked the dark-skinned man who had grabbed her. Orihime was daunted by his large size, and the way he seemed to lick his lips in hunger.

"Her name is Orihime," said the one she had recognized. She thought his partner looked familiar as well, though her memories were still clouded. Were these truly her friends?

"Hmmph," snorted Yammy. "If she's one of ours, why isn't she wearing a uniform?"

Orihime winced in apology. "I'm sorry, but I had to sell it to the tailor so that I would have enough money to eat."

Yammy growled in disapproval, and made a threatening gesture with his hands. "You should have died of starvation first, before mistreating one of Aizen-sama's gifts so!"

"Enough, Yammy," said Ulquiorra impatiently. Orihime was surprised to see the giant follow his orders and back off. "Woman, did lord Aizen give you any special instructions before you came here?"

She shook her head automatically, already knowing that her memories were sealed away. But then suddenly she _did_ remember something, as Aizen's name triggered a flash of images.

"There was a man," she muttered softly, surprised at how cold she suddenly felt. "He grabbed me, and then there was this chain connected to my chest. He...he broke it with his sword." Orihime was breathing heavily now, as the cold inside her grew into gut-wrenching fear. "He said something about a hollow, and he showed me a glowing purple ball."

"Bah," muttered Yammy. "She's just remembering her hollowification."

"At least her story verifies that she was one of us. Do you still doubt it?" When Yammy remained silent, Ulquiorra turned to her. The warmth of his smile chased away the cold shadows that had been threatening to choke her soul.

"Tomorrow you will meet the others. Together, we have been able to piece together much of our past. Perhaps one of them will also remember more about you, Orihime."

She smiled at him gratefully, although she was disappointed to find that she did not feel any joy at his words. Despite having been reunited with her friends and finding a purpose, she still felt empty. Ulquiorra seemed to sense something was wrong, and she explained to him what was troubling her.

"Ever since I woke up in this place, something has been missing inside of me. It's like all the happiness is gone; like I can't feel anything any more."

"Like you're ..._hollow_?" asked a voice eagerly. She was surprised to find it was Yammy who had spoken.

"We've also been troubled," explained Ulquiorra. "Yammy and I have been feeling strange since we arrived. As hollows, we had control over our emotions. Only hunger--or pride--could overcome our better judgment. Yet now, by some Shinigami sorcery, we have been made whole. We have regained all the weaknesses that made us, disgustingly, _human_." He met her gaze with his sparkling green eyes.

"You should not regret being what you are. Out of all of us, you are the only one to have retained your purity; free from the burdens of human conscience. Your soul is clean, perfect; like bleached white bone."

"If you remember how you did it, please tell us," said Yammy, his voice desperate. "I can't stand to live like this. The nightmares-" he couldn't continue. Ulquiorra turned to lay a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"We will speak more of this tomorrow," he said. "For now, let us rest."

Orihime watched as the two men settled down on the dirt floor to sleep, laying the torches between them to burn as a small bonfire. Orihime stayed where she was, too intimidated to approach them. She gathered up the robes she had bought and tried to make herself comfortable.

She awoke with a start, at first not recognizing where she was. It was still dark, and the fire had burned down to nothing but embers.

A whimpering sound made her raise her head to look for the source. A large shadow lay quivering behind the fire, kicking at the ground as if he were trying to run.

"Did Yammy wake you?"

Orihime looked up in surprise to see Ulquiorra standing over her, his green eyes reflecting the dying light of the embers. He knelt down and lay a gentle hand on her face. She shivered at his touch.

"Woman, you are cold. You should come lie near what's left of our fire."

"Please don't call me 'woman'," she said as she climbed to her feet, and then wondered why she sounded so irritated. He had only addressed her that way once before.

"You are a woman, are you not?" he asked in amusement, leading her to the warm spot on the floor he had recently vacated. As she stretched herself against the ground, she caught his eyes admiring her body.

"Hmph," she snorted lightly, feeling much more comfortable so close to the fire. "I liked it better when you called me by my name."

He settled down next to her, blocking her from the heat of the embers. She looked up at him to protest, and was briefly startled by the vision of a horned helmet over the left side of his head, with black marks between his eyes and green streaks running down his face. Then the shadow image was gone, and only his emerald eyes remained the same.

"Orihime," he said softly, then smiled. That simple act helped banish the frightening image from her memory. Something told her that that _other_ version of Ulquiorra would never have smiled.

Yet as the man ran his fingers lightly down her neck, her mind was occupied with trying to deny the truth of what she had seen. What had these friends of hers once been like, and why did they desire being that way so badly? Even now, as Ulquiorra's warm breath tickled her ear, she felt no emotions stirring in her at all. She felt as cold and heartless as those eyes staring back at her in her vision. Was that really what they all hoped to become?

As the night rolled on, her body responded all too willingly the man's caresses. Her spirit, however, was troubled. From inside her walled-off mind, she watched impassively; completely untouched by their passion.

* * *

When she awakened a second time, she was astonished to find herself once again in her white dress.

"Yammy went and fetched it," said Ulquiorra, not bothering with a more detailed explanation. Orihime wasn't sure she wanted one. She didn't want to know what he might have done to the kind tailor who had helped her.

"Thank you," she said to him. The brute shrugged.

"Aizen-sama wanted you to have it," Yammy said simply.

"The others will be here shortly," Ulquiorra informed them. "Maybe they will have found something to help us return to our true forms."

"Ulquiorra-san," Orihime whispered, drawing him away to speak with him privately. "Are you sure you want to go back to the way things were?"

The turquoise eyes studied her. "Orihime," he began, "It might be easy for _you_ to live here, your soul only partially tainted, but for the rest of us, it is torture. I admit-" he said, running a finger down her cheek, "that there are some human emotions that I did not fully appreciate until last night. But it is not that alone. Lord Aizen waits for us, and as we are, we are too weak to help him."

"Why in the nine hells is it so damn dark in here!" shouted a voice from the doorway. They all turned in surprise as a group of people in white uniforms stepped into the building.

"Ha! I thought you preferred the dark, Aaroniero," Yammy teased him, greeting the others as they walked in.

"That's when I had access to my powers, fool. Now I'm trapped in this horrible human form. Please tell me you two have found a way to change us back?"

Ulquiorra left Orihime's side and approached their guests. "We were hoping _you_ had."

"You found something else, it seems," said a man with short pink hair. "What's that you got there, Ulquiorra?"

"She's one of us, obviously," said Ulquiorra calmly.

"Funny. I don't remember her." Orihime tried not to flinch under his studious gaze.

"Oh, but I do," said a tall lanky individual, throwing her a lecherous grin. "I never forget a pretty face."

"What is your name and number, girl?" growled a large black-skinned man, his head shaved completely bald.

"She is Orihime, and since there is only one number missing from our group, she is clearly the 6th Espada."

"Why don't you let her answer for herself, Ulquiorra?" said the only other female present, her face partially concealed under a long collar. "I myself would like to see her power before I can accept her claim."

Orihime couldn't later recall how it had happened, only that a voice inside her head had screamed at her to call out its name. All of a sudden, a golden shield of light appeared behind her. She might not even have noticed if she hadn't heard a deep moan of pain, and turned around to see the big black man cradling his fist.

"Impressive," said the pink-haired fellow. "She was fast enough to spot Zommari coming up behind her, and was able to block his attack effortlessly."

"If she can beat Zommari, then we know she is at the very least worthy of being 6th," remarked Ulquiorra. Orihime wondered if he had been at all worried about her ability to prove herself. She knew that she herself had been. Where had that shield come from?

The woman shook her head. "Blocking him is not the same as defeating him, but we need not argue over the point now. Our priority, as always, is to regain our hollow powers and quickly return to Lord Aizen's side."

"How do we even know he's still alive?" asked someone wearing a goatee. Despite the furious and appalled reactions of the others around him, he didn't seem at all bothered by the question.

"Lord Aizen cannot be-!"

"Yeah yeah, Halibel, I know you seem to think our leader is invincible," the odd man continued, still sounding unconcerned. "But if that was the case, why would he even need to create us?"

"Orihime!" whispered a voice at her shoulder. The girl turned her attention away from the arguing Espada--as they apparently called themselves--and stared in surprise at the tiny winged creature standing on her shoulder.

"Thank goodness you heard me call out!" it sighed in relief. "As it was, we were barely able to block that brute's attack."

"You created the shield?" Orihime asked in surprise, plucking the fairy-like being from her shoulder and examining it carefully.

"Hey, careful! Yes, of course we did. I never would have thought your amnesia would make you forget us as well."

"Orihime!" greeted another fairy happily, hovering before her eyes. "We missed you!"

"Don't let yourself get spotted, Lily," said a third winged creature, grabbing the smaller one and hiding them both behind long strands of auburn hair. "Listen, Orihime, you have to find that Vizard fellow and ask him to bring back Ayame and the others," he told her urgently.

"Vizard?"

"Yes, you know, those Shinigami with hollow powers," explained the first fairy, still caught between her fingers. "He was the only one able to bring back Tsubaki that one time."

"What are you looking at, Orihime?"

She started in surprise as Ulquiorra turned his attention towards her. The fairies immediately vanished, yet somehow she could still feel them inside of her head.

The other Espada now looked at her as well. Apparently they had finished their argument, and had overheard Ulquiorra's question.

"The...Vizard," she said slowly, searching her memories. "I thought I remembered something."

"Vizard?" frowned Yammy. "I've never heard of such a thing."

"What you don't know could fill a book," sighed the pink-haired Espada, pushing Yammy out of the way so that he could approach Orihime. "I believe our new friend may be on to something. In my research, I came across references to a band of exiled Shinigami who were supposed to have been quite powerful."

"They were Shinigami with hollow powers," Orihime said, repeating what the fairy had told her.

"What! Szayel, how is that possible?" demanded Halibel. The other Espada looked equally surprised.

"We were hollows with Shinigami powers. It stands to reason that the opposite can occur," he answered her.

"I think I remember fighting someone like that," said Ulquiorra thoughtfully. "A red-haired boy with a ridiculously large zanpakuto. Halfway through the fight, he summoned a hollow mask and began firing ceros at me. I must say, it came as quite a surprise." Several other Espada nodded, as if they too could remember the odd Shinigami.

_Ichigo!_ thought Orihime, suddenly able to picture him in her mind. He was a Vizard? Somehow, it seemed to fit. Her memories could tell her little else about the boy, but she was convinced that he had been her friend. Surely he would be willing to help her and the other Espada get their powers back. Her few memories of Aizen terrified her, but if the others were so sure about the man's greatness, she would be willing to fight for him.

For some reason, the voices in her mind sounded angry. Orihime pushed them aside, her thoughts occupied with finding Ichigo and the Vizard.

"If we learned how they did it, we could have both our hollow powers and those of the Shinigami," grinned the lanky Espada.

"To do that, we'd have to find one of them," grimaced Szayel. "Unfortunately, the Vizard have remained hidden for centuries."

Suddenly she had it. "They live in the human world," Orihime announced, pleased by their smiles of relief. "I can show you exactly where to find them."


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or its characters.

A.N.: This chapter will have spoilers from the manga concerning certain Espada's powers. You have been warned.

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If the Shinigami forces hadn't all been called back to defend the Seireitei in case of a possible attack, someone might have spotted the gaping hole in the night sky over Karakura town. The few inhabitants who even had the _ability_ to see the ten figures suddenly leaping out of the giant maw were either asleep or otherwise occupied, and so it was that Orihime and nine other spirits landed without incident at an abandoned warehouse at the outskirts of town.

"So this is the place?" asked Yami, cracking his knuckles in anticipation.

Orihime nodded, certain of this particular memory. "Yes. They have a barrier over it so that no one else can see them or feel their presence inside."

"Well then, it might be better if we let our sexy Espada here...I'm sorry, I meant _Sexta_ Espada-," Nnoitra quickly amended, noticing Ulquiorra's menacing glare, "-introduce us first. We wouldn't want them to think this was an invasion."

"Go on, Orihime," Halibel told her. "This was your idea, after all."

The auburn-haired girl nodded, then braced herself as she crossed the Vizard shield. The tingling sensation she felt as she emerged inside the warehouse told her that her presence had triggered an alarm.

She took a few tentative steps when no one immediately challenged her. A quick look behind her showed the Espada still framed by the open doorway, though Orihime knew that they couldn't see her from that side.

When she faced forward again, she gasped as a shadow rose up directly in front of her and clutched her arm in a vice-like grip.

"You!"

"H-hi?"

There was something vaguely familiar about the goggle-headed female, but Orihime couldn't say whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"What are you doing back here? Berry-tan is still in Hueco Mundo looking for you!"

"I'm sorry--who?"

"Ichigo, you moron! He left us to find you, even though he wasn't through with his training. Now if gets slaughtered by Aizen, it'll be your fault!"

Orihime sensed that Ichigo's name normally triggered strong emotions inside of her--joy? vengeance?--but crippled as she was, she was shut off from any of it. Now all she could cling to was cold logic as she tried to work past her initial confusion. "But why would Ichigo fight Aizen? I thought the Vizard were leaving Aizen-sama alone."

The other girl gave her an exasperated stare and began counting on her fingers. "One, he was fighting to bring you home ...but somehow you managed to do that on your own anyway. Good job, seems your friends have risked their lives for nothing! Two, Berry-tan is not officially one of us and what he does is none of our business. And three... oh hell, do I really need a three? Yes I do. Why are there ESPADA standing outside our door?!"

"I'm sure Orihime has a good reason. Now please, let go of her Mashiro."

The green-haired Vizard gave a soft yelp of surprise as her arm was gently but forcibly removed from Orihime's by a kind-faced giant. Orihime looked up gratefully at her rescuer, who she recognized but could not name.

"Please, sir, you have to help us. We need our hollow powers back so that we can save Aizen-sama!"

"Hmmm?" rumbled the mustached giant in surprise, his frown not the least bit encouraging.

"Are the rumors true then, Orihime-chan? Have you really betrayed the Soul Society to join with your kidnappers?" asked a new voice from the shadows. Suddenly six more faces were illuminated in the gloom. Orihime shrank back from the last speaker, whose odd grin reminded her of Nnoitra.

"I don't know anything about a kidnapping," she protested. "And I haven't betrayed anyone. I was always an Espada."

The goggle-wearing girl was back, this time jabbing her finger repeatedly at Orihime's body. "Oh yeah? Then where's your hollow hole, huh? Is it here? There? Here maybe?" Each jab was followed by a cry from Orihime, who wondered what she had done to aggravate the other female.

"Enough, Mashiro. It is easy to sense that she is no hollow," commanded the speaker, who Orihime suspected was their leader.

"Not any more," Orihime confirmed. "That's why we came to ask your help."

"Hachi, is there any truth to what she's saying?" asked another female, this one wearing a red outfit with a sword strapped to her right shoulder.

The giant studied Orihime, his expression becoming downcast. "I cannot say what might have happened to her since she left for Hueco Mundo, except that in that time, she has died and been reborn into the Soul Society. That might explain her confusion."

"We'll have to interrogate the others, then, to get the full story," sighed the leader. "Very well, let them in."

The man they called Hachi proceeded to cross his arms in front of him and then slice them through the air, creating a violent gust of wind that made the building shudder. The waiting Espada seemed to know at once that the barrier was down, and boldly strode into the Vizard's home.

"Greetings, cousins. We are delighted to find that the legendary Vizard are more than simple myth," smiled Halibel, bowing her head as she approached them.

"Maybe we prefer to stay a myth," said the Vizard leader, throwing the Espada an eerie grin. "Maybe you should start by giving me a reason not to kill you all."

The Espada stiffened, but Halibel motioned for them to keep still. "As I'm sure you can sense, we have very little power as we are now," she continued carefully. "That is why we came here, to ask you to share the secret techniques you used to gain your hollow halves."

"You've just told me why you don't pose a threat. You still haven't told me why I should care," snorted the Vizard, sounding bored.

With another gesture from Halibel, each of the Vizard suddenly found themselves at the end of an Espada sword. Halibel remained where she was, but now leaned her weight against the zanpakuto she had planted into the ground. Orihime watched in stunned silence, unaware that her companions had already relearned how to summon their Shinigami weapons. Did they expect her to-?

"Careful, Vizard. I said we have little power compared to what we once were. I never said we weren't a threat," growled Halibel.

None of the Vizard looked overly concerned by the weapons pointed in their faces. Even Hachi seemed more worried about Orihime's safety than his own; completely ignoring Ulquiorra's sword at his throat and appearing more unsettled by the green-eyed Espada's close proximity to her.

"So you aren't completely helpless. That's good. It's so hard to respect someone who has no spine." The Vizard leader leapt down from his perch, startling the baffled Espada who had been guarding him. Halibel didn't even blink as he shunpoed up next to her, raising his own sword and casually running a finger along its edge.

"So you wish to become hollows, eh? I feel it's only fair to warn you that it will be much harder this time around."

"Whatever it takes," said the dark-skinned female, sounding determined.

"Well, for starters, now that you've been purified, you no longer have the soul plate in the middle of your chests that so conveniently showed you what part of your spirit needed to be carved out. So your options are three-fold: One, find a body and possess it for twenty-or so years, locking your powers inside it, at which point a new soul chain will form which you can then sever at will-"

"We don't have that kind of time!" snapped Szayel, who was trying hard to keep his sword aimed at Mashiro despite her tendency to float around the room.

"Two," continued the Vizard, throwing the pink-haired Espada an annoyed look, "somehow convince a hollow to graft its powers onto you. As you can imagine, this presents its own set of challenges, and quite frankly, I don't think you're going to find any willing subjects. I know of only one case-"

"What's the third option?" Halibel interrupted, growing impatient.

The man resumed his eerie grin. "The third option is to put your soul at the mercy of a hollow, and allow it to feed on you. Eventually, it will corrupt enough of your spirit to turn you into a hollow yourself. Unfortunately, you cannot be sure what else it might destroy in the process."

"It's a risk we're willing to take," sighed Halibel, then with a grim nod at the others, sheathed her sword. The Espada followed her example and immediately flash-stepped to her side. Orihime was about to follow them when she felt Hachi tugging at her sleeve.

"Please don't do this, Orihime-chan. You don't belong with them."

"Then where do I belong, Hachi-san? There is something wrong with me--I've felt it ever since I arrived at the Soul Society. It's like a piece of who I am is missing; like what your leader just said happens when you become a hollow-"

"Orihime-chan, listen to me. We've had this talk before, even though you may not remember. You and I have the gift of restoration. If any part of you is missing, you have the power to bring it back."

She shook her head. "Maybe I used to, but I think that gift is part of what's missing. I don't have the power to do that any more."

Hachi seemed ready to say something when Halibel called out to her, "Come, Orihime. We are leaving." Turning to the Vizard leader, she added, "You have our thanks, cousins."

The grinning man was no longer smiling. "Think nothing of it. However, it would be wise of you not to make assumptions. Although neither of us bear any love for the Soul Society, it would be a far stretch for us to call one another allies. If you violate our privacy again, we _will _kill you."

Halibel turned on her heels and marched back through the gateway, the others a step behind her. Orihime threw Hachi an apologetic look as she rushed to join them.

"Oh, and Orihime?" the Vizard leader called to her. "Just so you know, if in the future you try to cross the barrier again, it will kill you, too."

Hachi threw the man a sullen look, but did not dare to countermand him. Orihime nodded her understanding, then followed the Espada back out into the night.

* * *

They paused to orient on the baying howl of their prey. The hollow hadn't shown any signs of being aware of them, which meant that it was either too busy feeding, or that it didn't consider them to be any threat.

Yami, who had been standing close enough to Orihime to see her shiver, grinned a toothy smile.

"Does a little thing like that scare you, girl? It's not even a measly gillian!"

"Oh?" asked Aaroniero in a high voice, having overheard the other Espada's comment. "And what's so measly about a gillian, hmm?"

"Quiet, both of you!" hissed Halibel, drawing up alongside them. "We're close enough that it might hear you." She then shunpoed ahead, and the two males were forced to give up the argument in order to catch up.

Orihime didn't even try, knowing that she wasn't skilled enough to match their speed. Minutes later, when she found them clustered outside a park, she took a moment to lean against her knees and catch her breath.

"Pshh, not only can't she draw her zanpakuto, but she can't even shunpo!" snickered Yami in a whisper that was still loud enough for everyone to hear. Orihime felt her face flush a deep crimson.

"It's not my fault--no one ever showed me how!" she protested weakly.

"Drawing your zanpakuto should be as natural as breathing," Aaroniero commented offhandedly. "Maybe Yami is indeed on to something. No Espada could possibly be this pathetic, even without her memories." He moved to approach Orihime, who braced herself to summon her shield, when a sharp jab made him stop.

"You will leave Orihime alone, Aaroniero." Ulquiorra stood behind him, his sword pressed against the other's back.

"Ulquiorra," grumbled the Ninth Espada. "I am surprised at how often you come to this lady's rescue. If you aren't careful, some of us may get the wrong ideeeee-ah!" He cried out as Ulquiorra dug the tip of his sword a little deeper, earning him a hard look from Halibel and the others who were busy observing the hollow from the concealment of the bushes. Orihime couldn't see anything clearly from where she was standing, except for a vague black outline shuffling past the children's playground.

"I can clearly remember Lord Aizen ordering me to watch over her," Ulquiorra told him softly. "However, I don't remember him telling me any such thing about _you._"

"Bah," spat Aaroniero, drawing himself away from the other's blade. "What would I need _your_ protection from anyway? Measly gillian, indeed. I'll _show _you what this measly gillian can do!"

Before the others could stop him, Aaroniero walked past the Espada's hiding spot and planted himself directly in front of the startled hollow.

"I have a proposition for you," he called out to the creature, who Orihime could now see resembled a giant boar. A boar with far too many limbs that all twisted the wrong way and a skeletal face with three eye holes, but Orihime would still definitely call it a boar.

"And why should I care?" the hollow moaned at him, lowering his tusks in preparation to strike.

"Because if you agree, you will get an easy meal. And if you do not, you risk getting cut apart by this," he said, holding up his zanpakuto.

The sight of the Shinigami weapon seemed to enrage the giant hollow. He dove forward and tried to gore Aaroniero, but the latter leapt onto the hollow's back and buried his sword in its spine. The creature flailed its many limbs helplessly, unable to reach the Espada's perch. As Aaroniero sawed the vertebrae in half, the hollow stopped moving all together.

"Fool, you killed it!" shouted Yami. "Now we'll have to go find a new one!"

"I didn't kill it, you idiot. I merely showed it the price of disobedience." The hollow began to wail piteously, rolling its head from side to side. Aaroniero jumped down and kicked it in the teeth. "Shut up! You should have just listened to me in the first place!"

"Kill me then," the hollow said. "If you don't, other hollows will come to feed on me."

Nnoitra laughed at the miserable creature. "We _are _the other hollows, _fool_. But we haven't come here to feed just yet."

"Instead, I'll give you a chance to feed on me," Aaroniero explained. "But I want you to do it slow, and stop when I tell you. If you don't, these others here will make sure it's the last thing you ever do."

The hollow looked startled, but agreed. Orihime then watched in grim amazement as the Espada lay down in front of the creature's mouth and let the hollow draw in bits of his soul. Aaroniero's body began to shudder, and before long he was screaming in pain. When the Espada commanded it to stop, the hollow obediently clamped its mouth shut. Despite this, Aaroniero's body seemed to tear itself apart, until finally it disappeared completely.

"Won't be long now," said Halibel.

In moments, a bright flash of light announced a new presence nearby. They all turned to stare as a mass of roiling purple tentacles materialized a few yards away. The mass continued to writhe and grow, until two very large eyes and a mouth sprouted at the thing's center.

"It seems you've recovered your old looks, Aaroniero," Szayel congratulated him. He waved a hankerchief under his nose as he approached to study the newly-transformed Espada. "As well as your old smell. I wonder if it's enough, however? Will you be able to recover your-"

His words were cut off as a tentacle wrapped itself around Szayel's waist and pulled him inside of its body. The other Espada immediately jumped back a safe distance and drew their zanpakuto. Orihime was relieved--although somewhat ashamed--to see Ulquiorra once more defending her. The crippled hollow was not so lucky, and it too was dragged screaming into Aaroniero's bloated gut.

Just as suddenly, the body seized and collapsed in on itself, as if someone had pulled a plug and deflated it. The watching Espada did not relax in the slightest, even when a lone figure drew itself out of the violet muck and calmly walked towards them.

"No need to panic, it's just me," Szayel announced, flicking bits of goo off his robes. "When that fool swallowed me, I used _Gabriel_ to resurrect inside of it, and destroyed him in the process."

"So why did he turn on you?" asked Yami in surprise.

Szayel snorted in derision. "The fool had clearly let too much of himself get eaten. He lost the part of his soul that could reason, the part that would have made him an arrancar. After being fed on by that hollow, there was nothing left of him but the basic hollow instinct to feed."

"There's something I still can't figure out," said the large black man who was the Seventh Espada. Szayel inclined his head at him in polite puzzlement. "I can see how Aaroniero regained his powers after becoming a hollow," Zommari continued. "But Szayel, at what point did you regain your ability to use _Gabriel_?"

The Espada scientist smiled, then without warning shot a tentacled arm around Zommari's throat.

"You see too much, old friend. I think it's time I put out some of your eyes-"

Before Szayel's misshapen hand could tunnel its way into Zommari's horrified face, he stiffened and dropped back, gurgling violet slime as he fell. No one said a word as all eyes turned to Stark, who was calmly wiping purple blood off his zanpakuto.

"All right, we've wasted enough time with this," said Halibel, at last breaking the silence. "I don't know what went wrong with Aaroniero, but I won't risk it happening to the rest of us. Weak or not, we will return to Lord Aizen as we are, and beg him to use the Hougyoku on us."

As the higher-ranking Espada cast the kidou to open a portal out of the living world, Yami inched his way over to Ulquiorra and Orihime.

"Overall, it's been a rather productive night, wouldn't you say?" he chuckled, drawing an imaginary number eight on his left shoulder. "Lucky for you, Orihime, I still have Zommari in my way. I thought I'd give you fair warning, though, that I'll be nipping at his heels, and he's gonna feel the pressure to start nipping at yours soon enough."

Before either of them could reply, the garganta was ready, and Yami was the first to leap through. Orihime was about to follow when Ulquiorra held up his hand in caution.

"I will follow Lord Aizen's orders to the best of my ability, but I am only the Fourth Espada," he told her softly, cupping her chin in his hand. "You must recover your powers soon, before any of the top three begin to doubt you. When we find Lord Aizen, you must be the first to kneel before him and ask to be restored."

Orihime nodded at him wordlessly, her mind still reeling from the violence she had witnessed between her fellow Espada.

"Don't worry, if you are important enough to him that he commanded me to protect you, he will surely not let any of the others harm you."

With that last bit reassurance to sustain her, Orihime accepted Ulquiorra's hand as they crossed over into Hueco Mundo.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or its characters.

A.N. - My continued thanks for your reviews!

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Individually, they might not have remembered enough to find their way back to the fortress of _Las Noches_. When the eight of them pieced together their fragmented memories, however, they were able to map out a route through the desert.

It did not take them long to return to Aizen's side.

The ex-Shinigami captain sat on his throne looking unconcerned and unsurprised, as if he had been expecting them. Halibel dropped to one knee in his presence, and the others quickly followed her example.

"Lord Aizen, I humbly beg your forgiveness for taking so long to reach you, and for coming before you in such a pathetic state. We pray that you will still find us worthy and restore our hollow powers."

Their leader smiled down at them fondly, like a parent reassuring a child. "My my, such serious faces. You met my expectations; there's no need to be ashamed."

Despite her inability to feel emotion, _including _fear, Orihime still had a strong sense of self-preservation that screamed at her to run away from there. She fought this off with difficulty as she shakily rose from her prostrated position, remembering Ulquiorra's words.

"Aizen-sama," she began, feeling the other Espadas' eyes on her. "Please restore my powers first. When I died, I lost almost everything. I'm useless to you as I am now."

She watched the man's smile fade as he recognized her. "Orihime Inoue. Isn't this a surprise." He leaned forward in his throne, beckoning her closer. "Tell me, my dear. Why would I wish to restore your powers... when you last used them to betray me?"

Orihime halted her approach, standing frozen in shock. She didn't even move when a second later, she felt a sword edge pressed against her throat. Somehow, the scene felt very familiar.

"I humbly apologize, Lord Aizen," said Ulquiorra, keeping his blade steady despite the new shakiness in his voice. "I was convinced by my memories that she was important to you. I would never have brought her here if I suspected that she was a threat to you."

Orihime couldn't believe what was happening. She had threatened Aizen? When--_how_ could that have happened? She was one of his loyal Espada, wasn't she? After all, Ulquiorra had told her-

But then Ulquiorra now had his sword aimed at her neck. Clearly, his memories of her were in doubt, just as her own were. And despite the feelings the Fourth Espada claimed to have for her, he hadn't hesitated to aim his weapon at her when he thought his lord was in danger. If Orihime had ever wondered what she truly meant to him, she now had proof of where Ulquiorra's priorities lay.

As these thoughts raced through her head, Orihime could hear Aizen chuckling. "Oh, she was never a _threat_. I always had my doubts about her. But you, Ulquiorra, have once again proven your loyalty to me."

The green-eyed Espada bowed his head in acknowledgement. Orihime still couldn't believe his betrayal, and hoped that any moment now, Ulquiorra would grab her and they would flee together back into the desert.

"What do you want done with her, Aizen-sama?" the fourth Espada asked him instead.

The man sat back against his throne and hummed thoughtfully. He reached into his cloak and withdrew a swirling purple object. Orihime gasped in recognition.

"So you remember the Hyougyoku, Orihime-chan? You wanted it so badly at our last encounter, and weren't you just now begging me to give you hollow powers?"

_This is wrong!_ screamed the voices in her mind. _Run away! Flee, while you still have the chance!_

Orihime ducked her head and summoned her shield, which slammed against Ulquiorra's sword as he tried to swing it down at her. She dove past the kneeling Espada and raced towards the exit, but a hand cruelly grabbed her from behind and jerked her backward. She spun around and gasped to find Aizen holding on to her robes.

"Changed your mind?" he continued casually. "This might help you find a new point of view." So saying, the glow of his reiatsu poured into the purple orb in his hand until it shone with blinding light, which then struck Orihime full in the chest. Her entire body itched and burned, as if her skin were peeling away. She wanted to cry out in pain, but almost gagged as white liquid poured out of her open mouth and wrapped itself over her face. She felt her eyes tearing and forced them shut as she saw the white substance clouding her vision.

A dark presence grew in her mind. She shrank back from it as it suffocated her senses, revolting her with its pure malignancy. She made a half-hearted attempt to fight it, but quickly retreated back into herself as she sensed its massive strength.

_I wanted power, but not this!_ she cried to herself. _I'd rather feel half-empty and weak, than filled with this horrible darkness!_

She heard Aizen speaking to her, and forced her eyes to remain shut. However, a will stronger than hers now took full command of her body, and she reluctantly opened them to see her vision now framed by bone-white eye sockets.

"After all the trouble we went to through to find you, Orihime-chan, the only polite thing to do would be for you to remain here."

"Of course, Aizen-sama," she heard herself say. In her mind, however, she was screaming.

* * *

Orihime awoke to find herself panting and her robes drenched in sweat.

It was their fourth night in the desert. Despite trying to piece together a map of Hueco Mundo from what little each of them remembered, the Espada were no closer to finding _Las Noches_ than they had been upon their arrival.

_What a horrible dream_, she thought to herself with a shiver, wrapping herself in her cloak. Nearby, she could also hear Yammy tossing and moaning, and knew that he was having another of his routine nightmares

She climbed to her feet and paced around their small camp, feeling slightly better after that bit of stimulation. Images from the dream still haunted her thoughts, especially the memory of Aizen awakening the dark being inside of her. Had that been her hollow? Was that her true self--the one Lord Aizen and the other Espada remembered and expected her to be?

_No, that can't be the real me!_ she insisted firmly to herself, remembering how wrong that other presence had felt. _And if it is, I don't care--I won't let them turn me back! Even if I stay weak like this forever..._

Did that mean she was abandoning Lord Aizen and the rest of her fellow Espada? Surely they would never allow her to leave them. If she tried to escape, they would kill her--or worse.

Her pacing led her to stand over Ulquiorra, who rested peacefully by the fire. Orihime normally felt comforted by her protector's presence, but the memories from the dream were still too fresh in her mind. She could almost feel the pressure of his blade against her neck. She had once welcomed his strength, but now she recognized that his power could be a threat to her. He had been all too ready to cast her aside for the sake of Aizen's approval. Despite Ulquiorra's reassurances and professed feelings for her, Orihime worried that his words had been empty--spoken more out of reflex from suddenly finding himself with a conscience than from any conscious soul-searching.

Even if he did mean what he said to her, those feelings would all too soon be stripped away when he regained his hollow self. Orihime remembered from the dream what it felt like to have her consciousness be forced back into a small corner of her mind while the hollow took full control. At that point, even the illusion of Ulquiorra as a warm and caring protector would disappear.

She felt her eyes brim with tears as she realized that she was truly alone and friendless, stranded in an unfamiliar land with enemies on all sides. The one person she had depended on to save her was just as likely to turn her over to her greatest enemy.

A large hand suddenly clamped itself over her mouth, muffling the sound of her screams as she felt someone grab her from behind. She felt the world spin as she was shunpoed backward a short distance, and was left to guess at the identity of her assailant until she heard his voice whisper in her ear.

"I see through you, _Sexta Espada_," he hissed. "You have played us all for fools, pretending you were one of us. But in my dreams, I've finally found my memories. I saw you locked in an isolation cell in _Las Noches_. I remembered Ulquiorra leading you around like a prisoner on a leash. And I remembered seeing you in the living world, a pathetic human, and breaking through your precious shield with a single finger!"

Orihime gasped as she actually visualized the memories as Yammy described them to her, recognizing them as real. What could that mean?! Had they been wrong all along? Was she really a human--not one of Aizen's arrancar?

"No need to wake the others for this. I'll take my time and savor killing you slowly," the giant said, barking a laugh.

Orihime couldn't see what the newly-promoted eighth Espada was doing, as he still held her faced away from him. She braced herself for the worst, waiting until the right moment to summon her shield. She intended to use it as a distraction, rather than holding any real hope that it could protect her from that monster.

"What are you doing?" a new voice interrupted them. Orihime entertained a brief illusion of Ulquiorra coming to her rescue, but the voice was not his.

"Go mind your own business, Zommari."

"I have more business with you than this girl, _Tenth_ Espada. If you want to challenge us, you do it in the proper order."

Orihime gasped as Yammy suddenly dropped her onto the sand. She heard the ring of steel being unsheathed, and felt the pressure of two powerful reiatsu pressing her against the ground.

The clash of swords was directly on top of her, and the voices in her mind again urged her to save herself. Orihime crawled on her hands and knees until she was far enough away from their spirit pressure to climb to her feet.

_I should use this distraction to escape the Espada. I can't stay here and watch--no matter who wins, they'll want to fight me next!_

Yet what was the likelihood she would succeed in escaping? They had access to their Shinigami powers, and could probably track her reiatsu from great distances. Her offensive powers were lost, and all she could summon was her shield.

_But they might not know that, _she suddenly realized. _They probably guess that I'm weak, and if I run away, they'll know for sure. If I can fool them somehow into thinking I'm stronger, they might not want to fight me, _she reasoned quickly.

It was a safer bet than running away and _knowing_ that when they found her, she would die.

A high-pitched ring drew her attention as she saw Yammy's zanpakuto snap in half after a fierce exchange with Zommari's weapon. The giant looked down at the broken sword in disgust before tossing it aside.

"It doesn't matter. My fists are the only weapons I need to take care of you."

Zommari shrugged. "I have no objection to fighting hand-to-hand." He sheathed his sword, then explained to the startled Espada, "I don't want to hear you complain later that this fight wasn't fair. Not that you'll survive."

"We'll see about that," grinned Yammy, looking increasingly more confident. He lowered himself into a crouch, then leapt up suddenly, startling his opponent as he threw handfuls of sand in his face. As Zommari sputtered and wiped at his blinded eyes, Yammy launched an uppercut to his unprotected jaw, sending the large black man flying. Yammy didn't wait for him to land, shunpoing to materialize behind him and toss another punch to his lower back. Zommari's body arched in pain, but he managed to reach out and grab hold of Yammy's arm. The tenth Espada grinned, placing his other hand over Zommari's to hold it in place as he spun and aimed another punch at the man's chest as they both fell, Yammy landing on top of the other man and pinning him down with his fist.

"I hope you're watching, girl," Yammy called out to her, startling Orihime. "I'll do the same thing to you. Though when I get you in this position, I may decide to get _creative_."

Suddenly the brute yowled in both pain and surprise as the body beneath him disappeared and five different Zommaris seemed to materialize around him, landing various blows to his chest and face. The pummeling continued mercilessly as Yammy's body slowly came apart. Despite the threats he had given her, Orihime could not bear to watch what was being done to him. She lowered her eyes to the sand, not wanting to turn away completely and risk appearing weak. That was when she noticed the glint of his discarded zanpakuto.

"How...did...you...do...it?" gasped the dying Espada between labored, gurgling breaths.

"Someone as weak as yourself never stood a chance against me. Your challenge was pathetic, yet I decided to give you the opportunity to prove yourself if you could. If you had continued to punch me as I was thrown through the air, you might have managed to actually harm me. As it was, you lost the moment you allowed my feet to touch the ground."

Orihime raised her eyes as Yammy's body finally fell. Zommari looked at it impassively, then turned his gaze toward her. Orihime knew that her face betrayed no emotion, because she felt none. Yammy's zanpakuto was hidden in the folds of her cloak, but she knew better than to test the broken blade against someone with Zommari's experience and speed. Her bluff of strength was her only protection now, as intuition told her that her shield would not block him this time around.

He seemed to study her for a moment, then nodded to himself and turned away, heading back to their camp.

Orihime managed to suppress her sigh of relief, but couldn't quite believe her good fortune. Zommari was still a threat, and the constant worry of him unexpectedly attacking her at any moment finally drove her to ask what was on her mind.

"Are you going to challenge me, Seventh Espada?"

The grim black-skinned giant made a sound of displeasure. "We have already lost three Espada, and have yet to find Lord Aizen. What kind of aid could we bring him if we keep killing each other? No, I will wait until we return to him, and for you and I to have our powers restored. Then we shall see how we stand."

Orihime nodded sadly. She no longer wanted her powers restored; not if it meant surrendering herself to her hollow.

* * *

"Did I do good, Hinagiku?" Lily asked, beaming at him proudly.

The one-eyed Shun Shun Rikka nodded approvingly. Apparently Lily's ability to stimulate Orihime's imagination also helped her shape the girl's dreams--a useful talent that _almost_ compensated for Lily's annoying over-stimulated and over-positive behavior. In this case, they used that ability to craft a nightmare which they hoped might trigger some of Orihime's buried memories. They had been more than successful, and Orihime had been able to conclude all on her own that joining Aizen's side was a _very bad_ idea.

Privately, however, Hinagiku was worried. Orihime's ignorance had protected her, and allowed her to better blend in among the Espada. Now that she knew the truth, she would be constantly on her guard and might give herself away. The last thing she needed was more attention, as the others were already growing suspicious of her.

"Keep a close eye on her, Baigon. I suspect Orihime will need those protective instincts now more than ever."

The stout Shun Shun Rikka grunted in agreement.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or its characters.

A.N. - We're almost at the finish. I wasn't sure where I was going with this fic when I started, but I think the end result turned out all right. If you disagree, blame my inner Lily; she had almost total control of my brain as I wrote this.

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By the time they reached camp, the moon was already beginning to rise. They found the other Espada huddled around the fire, already discussing the day's plans.

"We were wondering where you were," spoke Halibel, sensing them without having to look over her shoulder. "Isn't Yammy with you?"

Zommari's eyes flickered to Orihime. After a short pause, she realized that he was allowing her to do the talking.

"He lost," she answered simply, hoping they wouldn't prod her for more information. Let them think what they wanted. It would be even more to her advantage if they assumed that she had been the one to beat Yammy.

"He was a fool. We are better off with him dead, even if it means only seven of us will reach lord Aizen," said an old Espada wearing a crown of bone. Orihime had never learned his name.

"In the meantime, Nnoitra believes he has found the way to Las Noches. If he is correct, we will be there before moonset." Halibel's expression was hidden behind her collar, but she sounded relieved.

"_If_ he is correct..." repeated Stark with a shrug. Orihime glanced at Nnoitra to see how he might react, but the Espada's usual grin merely widened a small fraction.

"I'm sure you'll recognize the landmarks along the way, just as I did. But if you'd rather find your own path, Stark... well, we just might reach Aizen first, that's all."

Stark leapt to his feet, an unusually brisk movement for one who seemed to enjoy taking things slow. "If someone with your dull senses could find it, I'm sure I'll have no trouble." He winked at the others, casually waved and said, "See you there!", then shunpoed off in a cloud of dust.

Halibel's eyes--the only part of her face anyone ever saw--were narrowed in disapproval. She motioned at Nnoitra to lead the way, and soon he too disappeared, moving faster than Orihime could follow. She and the crowned Espada vanished immediately after, leaving Zommari, Orihime and Ulquiorra to stand alone in the middle of their deserted camp.

_Maybe they'll leave me here_, Orihime thought hopefully. The green-eyed arrancar turned to her, and with a sinking feeling, she knew that he was about to offer to carry her. Orihime hadn't yet worked out where she stood with Ulquiorra, especially after his betrayal in her dream. _Should I really trust a dream, though? _she wondered guiltily. Still, the thought of being so physically close to him this soon made her uncomfortable.

"You'll get there faster if I carry you," said Zommari before Ulquiorra could open his mouth. Orihime's shocked silence wore off after a moment, and she quickly made the decision to accept his offer.

"Thank you, Zommari-san," she said with a bow of her head. As she climbed onto his large back, she made sure to avoid Ulquiorra's startled gaze.

The scenery around them streaked by so fast that Orihime was forced to close her eyes to keep from getting nauseated. She wondered how she managed to stay clinging onto the seventh Espada's back, then realized that somehow, the space immediately around him was standing perfectly still. She didn't feel the rush of wind against their bodies, or the jerky movements of his feet bouncing against the ground with each step. He just physically stood in one location one second, and miles away the next.

Orihime wasn't certain how much time had passed when she felt Zommari begin to slow down. She wondered if he was finally growing tired, especially with her extra weight on his back. Suddenly they came to a full halt, and in surprise, Orihime let go and tumbled onto the sand. Before Zommari had even turned around and noticed, Ulquiorra was leaning over her and offering his hand. Orihime was too flustered to refuse his help, but froze when she saw him also reach down to lift Yammy's zanpakuto from where it had fallen out of her cloak. She quickly snatched it back from him and looked around to see if anyone else had noticed while she tucked it back in place.

The others had appeared within seconds of their arrival. Orihime wondered what had caused them to stop--the desert was still empty for miles around with no fortress in sight.

"We will rest here for now while Nnoitra confirms our position," said Halibel, answering Orihime's thoughts. "Don't stray too far; this shouldn't take long."

Ulquiorra was staring at her with his disconcerting gaze. His eyes then shifted to where she had hidden the broken sword. Orihime fretted that he would ask her how Yammy had died. Vague memories often showed the two of them together, and she wondered if they had been close. Would he now resent her for killing his friend? She opened her mouth as she tried to think up an apology, but he spoke first.

"Clearly you are not as helpless as you seem," he nodded in approval. "Nevertheless, I still offer my services to you, Orihime."

She was stunned, her mouth moving silently as she tried to think of something to say. "Thank you," she finally answered him, "but I'm sure Zommari-san is strong enough to carry me the rest of the way." She began to turn away from him, but he caught her shoulder before she could escape, pulling her closer to him.

"There are other services I can offer you," he reminded her softly, cradling her head with his hand and running it through her long tresses. "We will be human for only a short while longer. We should spend these last moments together, enjoying each other's company." His hand guided her head towards him, but she broke free and backed away several steps.

"Please don't," she protested faintly. "Nothing good can come of this. Soon you-_we'll_ be hollows, and none of this will mean anything."

Ulquiorra came closer, closing the distance between them. "I thought so too, but I have been remembering things, Orihime. I remember watching over you; protecting you. What's more, I remember doing so not simply because Lord Aizen wished it, but because _I _wanted it. Your innocence, your beauty, your fragility--these notions were foreign to me, but it made me appreciate you that much more. Over time, that appreciation grew into something I can now recognize as love."

The human girl felt her resolve shattering. Love was one of the many emotions that she could no longer feel, but she remembered how happy it once made her. She knew she had loved her friends, even if she could not remember their faces. And she had felt an even stronger bond with someone--also a nameless shadow in the corner of her memory--but remembered with a pang of sadness that it had been one-sided. She was somehow certain that Ulquiorra was the first person to have ever told her that he loved her in that special way.

She had always imagined such a moment would be both beautiful and meaningful, a memory she could hold onto and cherish forever...

Maybe in a perfect world, she would have been capable of expressing and returning Ulquiorra's love. As she was now--isolated from every possible emotion--she was wholly incapable of doing so. Because denial was the only option left to her, she told him, "You're wrong. A hollow doesn't understand love."

He did not back down, his voice only growing louder. "I am no mere hollow. I was once a _Vasto Lorde_, a creature made of hundreds of thousands of hollows. Of that multitude, my soul emerged the strongest, and my mind dominated all others. If I could do such a thing, imagine what might be possible, especially with the aid of the hougyoku? Lord Aizen told we arrancar that our souls had reached the ultimate perfection. How could that be so if we were deprived of emotion, something so basic that even humans possess it?"

_All humans except me_, Orihime thought to herself. Yet at the mention of Aizen, she realized that she had one last card to play. Ultimately, it was the one reason she could not allow herself to love Ulquiorra, even if she had been able to.

"Aizen-sama would never allow it," she told him truthfully. "He wanted you to keep me safe because he has special plans for me. Are you really prepared to go against him?"

Frustration showed in the Espada's emerald eyes. "Why are you making this so difficult?" he growled. "You talk as if you don't want us to be together, yet I can feel your desire burn as strongly as mine. We should-"

"No!" she cried, at last pushing away from him. "It can never happen!" She rushed to where the other Espada were gathered, trusting that Ulquiorra would not try anything directly in front of them. Already, she suspected that most of them had been watching their exchange.

She cast one last look behind her, catching the flicker of motion as Ulquiorra fled.

"Come, it's time we get going," said Halibel, making no other comment. Orihime once more climbed onto Zommari's back, feeling so drained that she wondered if she would be able to hang on this time. The thought of falling off and being left alone in the desert was vastly preferable to where they were actually heading.

* * *

As promised, Stark was the first to arrive at Las Noches. They found him standing just outside the fortress, staring grimly at the entrance gate. 

"So kind of you to have waited for us," remarked Nnoitra dryly.

The Espada snorted. "I've already been inside. I thought I might spare you some disappointment and give you fair warning."

"I don't sense Lord Aizen's presence!" spoke the oldest among them, his eyes widened in surprise.

"Right. He ain't here. The throne room is trashed, and I can't find anyone left alive. From the looks of things, we came too late to help him."

Halibel clenched her fists in anger. "We should never have wasted so much time in the Sereitei or the human world. We ought to have left for Las Noches as soon as we were reborn!"

A new voice made them turn around and stare at the figure as he materialized behind them.

"Even then, you would have been too late. Or did you forget the way most of you died?"

The gathered Espada braced themselves, their hands reaching for their weapons.

"Who are you?" asked Zommari, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

The stranger grinned, his teeth lining up perfectly with the fangs of the skeletal jaw hanging off the right side of his face. "I'm surprised you need to ask. I guess purification really does screw with your head. I am Grimmjow Jeagerjaques, and since it seems I'm the only arrancar left, I also hereby appoint myself your new lord."

_"Heresy!"_ shouted the black-skinned Espada, drawing his zanpakuto and thrusting it into Grimmjow's abdomen before the other had time to dodge. Despite the brutal wound, the blue-haired man continued to smile, then grabbed his large opponent and tossed him aside as if he weighed nothing. He pulled out the zanpakuto without any effort, and threw it back to its owner.

"Now that we've re-introduced ourselves, let me give you a little advice," he said casually, watching in satisfaction as his wound repaired itself. "First off, none of you should be having any regrets that Aizen is gone. That scheme of his to summon a key to the Shinigami King's dimension was the only thing he ever cared about. He created arrancar as a source of spiritual power, knowing that it would be too difficult to collect enough human souls to manifest the Key. But he worried that even we Espada wouldn't be enough, and used that girl, Orihime, as bait to draw the strongest humans and Shinigami to his fortress. Once we had all assembled, he planned to sacrifice us all."

"And you're saying that's how we died?" hissed Nnoitra suspiciously.

"No, that's how the top three Espada died. You, Nnoitra and Zommari, were killed by Shinigami captains. And you, woman--don't think I don't see you hiding there--you were killed just before the final battle. Aizen was furious; I think he had counted on your reiatsu to help power the summoning kidou."

"And you escaped alive because you were too weak to be useful, is that it?" asked Stark, appearing uncharacteristically tense.

Grimmjow laughed lightly. "Let's just say I know how to pick the winning side. If you have any common sense yourselves, you'll join me."

"Why should we trust anything you say?" asked Halibel, her voice a low growl. "Lord Aizen may still return to us."

"Return?" guffawed Grimmjow. "To this hell-hole? Whatever delusions you might have had about our ex-leader, he never intended to stay here. And if you doubt my words, maybe this will convince you that he isn't coming back."

The arrancar threw a swirling purple object at her feet. It was instantly recognizable to everyone there. Halibel knelt down almost reverently to pick it up.

"Don't get your hopes up about using it on yourselves. Aizen already drained the hyougoku of all its energy. It's useless now."

"I guess that means we'll just have to find some other way of getting our powers back," said Stark with a shrug. The other Espada, however, were not taking the news so lightly.

"Even if you are the last arrancar alive, I will never follow anyone but Lord Aizen!" swore Halibel. The others around her nodded in grim agreement.

Grimmjow seemed amused by their words. "I didn't really expect any of you to show common sense. Very well. If I have to knock sense into your thick skulls, so be it." He lifted his zanpakuto from its light blue sheath and called out, "_Grind_, PANTERA!"

From the mist that swirled around the released weapon, Grimmjow reappeared in his feline form. With a savage roar, he raked the air with his claws, sending streaks of energy towards the gathered Espada that sliced through everything it touched. The group shunpoed to safety just in time, while Orihime stood her ground behind the protection of her shield.

The attack kicked up clouds of sand that obscured everything in sight. When the dust cleared, the top three Espada were hovered around Grimmjow, their own zanpakuto drawn and aimed at the newly transformed arrancar.

"Even without our hollow abilities, we are more than a match for you, _traitor_," snarled Halibel. At her signal, the three shouted as one-

"BANKAI!"

* * *

"I don't sense Lord Aizen's presence!" 

Orihime almost collapsed in relief at those words. Aizen wasn't here. That dream--wherever it had come from--now had no chance of coming true. She stopped listening to the Espada argue amongst themselves, focusing once again on searching for a way to escape. If their leader was no longer around, would the Espada disperse?

"...did most of you forget the way you died?"

Grimmjow!

The name rose to her lips before she had even turned to stare at the newcomer's face. New memories surfaced, and Orihime suddenly realized that here was the true Sexta Espada. He had freed her once before, and then joined her friends--those mysterious friends whose names she still couldn't remember--in their last desperate battle against Aizen.

And then she had died.

Zommari's screams dragged her back to the present as she saw him run his sword through Grimmjow's belly. The fierce arrancar reacted by throwing the man aside and tearing out the bloody blade, making no sound of pain at what ought to have been a mortal wound. Instead, he continued to address his former comrades in a taunting voice.

Orihime couldn't help but wonder if this arrancar was her salvation. Then the meaning of his words suddenly registered-

_"...he worried that even we Espada wouldn't be enough, and used that girl, Orihime, as bait to draw the strongest humans and Shinigami to his fortress. Once we had all assembled, he planned to sacrifice us all... that's how the top three Espada died."_

Bait. She had been nothing but bait! And all this time, she thought Aizen had wanted her for- wanted her for what? Never mind that now, what about her friends! Had they really all been sacrificed in Aizen's mad scheme? Had the ex-Shinigami reached the King's dimension? She cared less about that than the fate of those who had come to save her. _Bait! _She had been stupid to let them take her prisoner. Wait a minute... when had she agreed to be captured?

Her current logical state of mind struggled against the seeming nonsense of her returning memories. What in the world had she done?

_"...you were killed just before the final battle... He had counted on your reiatsu to help power the summoning kidou."_

At least she had defied him in that small way. But had it made any difference? Aizen had the power of his top three Espada at his disposal--arrancar who were even more powerful than Ulquiorra, who himself had been a Vasto Lorde. And he would be able to draw on the spiritual powers of all the Shinigami captains and humans who had come to rescue her. The Espada had all been killed--that much she knew for certain. Where then were all of her friends? Had they also been resurrected in Soul Society, or reincarnated back on Earth?

She abruptly summoned her shield as Grimmjow transformed himself, channeling blinding bursts of energy that ripped through the air. To her relief, the Shun Shun Rikka's field survived the blow, though streaks of light now danced across Orihime's vision. She saw the higher level Espada make use of the cover of dust to maneuver and surround Grimmjow.

Orihime looked away, for this was a battle whose outcome bode poorly for her no matter who won. After his indiscriminate attack, it was obvious that Grimmjow would not come to her defense. She also no longer had Ulqiuorra to watch over her; but then keeping the Fourth Espada too close had been a danger in itself. With Aizen was gone, perhaps that was no longer the case. Regardless, he wasn't present to protect her this time, and she had no one to blame for that but herself.

The only other Espada who had shown her any kindness was Zommari. She walked hopefully towards the broken wall where she had seen him crash, but to her dismay, there was nothing there but rubble.

"He left," said Nnoitra from over her shoulder, startling her by his close proximity. "Probably searching for Aizen as we speak." Orihime moved away from him quickly, causing the lanky Espada to grin at her discomfort.

"Despite all his eyes, he followed blindly after those who promised him the impossible," Nnoitra continued, once again sliding his body towards her. "Then again, I suppose we can _all_ be accused of not seeing the obvious, wouldn't you say, Orihime-chan?"

"I don't know what you mean," she answered, backing up against the ruined wall. In truth, she was afraid that she knew _exactly _what he meant. Yammy had already shown her how displeased Espada could be at having been made fools of. Orihime didn't know who had been more surprised--her or Yammy--upon realization that she had never been one of them.

"Let me show you then," said Nnoitra, the corners of his smile twisting into a grimace. As he reached for her, Orihime's hand slid under her cloak to clutch the handle of Yammy's zanpakuto.

"Don't do it, Orihime!" shouted a shrill, male voice. One of those fairies--the creatures who had appeared when she had summoned her shield--now fluttered over her left shoulder.

"We'll protect you as long as we can; just run!" another shouted as he lined up with his companion. As Orihime watched, the third centered herself between them, hovering just above the ground.

Nnoitra looked at the Shun Shun Rikka in disgust. "Are these pathetic things supposed to impress me?"

Orihime had a sudden vision of three other winged creatures floating before her, only to be cut down a moment later by the flash of Aizen's sword. She saw a flower-shaped hairpin identical to the one she now wore, except that all of its petals had fallen. Those missing petals represented pieces of her soul, and somehow Orihime realized that if her other hairpin was destroyed, the rest of her identity would also be lost.

The shield immediately appeared between them, diminutive bodies forming the corners. Nnoitra tried to circle around it, but the Shun Shun Rikka kept pace with him.

"I won't leave you," said Orihime matter-of-factly. Her voice sounded neither courageous nor particularly determined, but there was no doubt that she meant what she said. "If you die, I'm as good as dead anyway."

The Espada aimed a furious sweep of his zanpakuto at her shield. "Good to know," he grunted.

Orihime could see the strain on their faces as the Shun Shun Rikka concentrated on blocking the blow. She fumbled for the hilt of Yammy's sword, both hands wrapped around a grip that had been made for someone three times her size. Even missing half its length, she was surprised that she was strong enough to lift up the heavy blade. _This thing was made from a part of Yammy's soul_, she remembered, sensing echoes of the Tenth Espada's essence. She felt a surge of power emanating from it, and a strong desire to strike back at her opponent.

She reached out to the zanpakuto with her mind. _I have no strength of my own left_; _nor will or skill to fight, _she said silently, projecting her thoughts. _But if you lend me yours, maybe we can both survive a little longer._

She thrust the half-sword through her shield and met Nnoitra's blade head on, knocking it away from her. Not daunted in the least, the Espada wore an expression of pure glee.

"So you're finally able to summon your zanpakuto, and it turns out to have a broken blade," he chuckled spitefully. "As if you needed any more proof of your inferiority!"

Movement out of the corner of her vision made Orihime look up. Nnoitra faced the opposite direction and didn't see, but took notice when a large shadow suddenly blocked out the light of the moon.

"LOOK OUT!" shouted a voice out of nowhere.

Part of a parapet and a cleanly-sliced section of tower came hurtling towards them. Nnoitra tried to flee, but tripped over the scattered stones of the ruined wall. Orihime ran to his side and spread her shield over them both, holding her sword in front of her even though she knew the move was futile. Above the fortress of Las Noches, the flashes of reiatsu and ceros told her what was causing the destruction.

Just as the giant block of flying masonry was about fall on top of them, a burst of energy shattered the stones into pieces, many of them disintegrating as they struck against her shield. Orihime looked around to catch a glimpse of whoever had saved them, but she couldn't see through the dust and flying debris.

Nnoitra looked furious rather than grateful at being rescued. As his single eye scanned the darkness, Orihime heard his sharp intake of breath.

_"You...!"_


	7. Chapter 7

General Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or its characters.

A.N. Disclaimer: The A.N. below has direct spoilers for the manga.

Actual A.N.: It seems I was right about Orihime being bait, but as for the rest...well, who knows how it will all end. My own fic seems to be going through some crazy twists, and I thought I should finish writing it before posting more, just to make sure it stayed consistent and made sense (at least to me. Some of you seem to like that the plot is interesting and original, but I'll be the first to acknowledge that it can also be confusing). Anyway, it turns out that the ending is longer than I expected, so I'll be breaking it into three chapters. As always, reviews are appreciated.

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"It's good to see you too, Nnoitra," smirked the green-haired female arrancar.

"Nel-chan!" cried Orihime, not believing her eyes. At the mere sight of the once child-like Espada, she suddenly remembered everything about her.

"Did you come here to fight me, then?" demanded Nnoitra, still clutching his sword.

Neliel huffed impatiently. "We can do that later if you insist. Right now I suggest we move to a safer spot." She grabbed hold of Orihime and Nnoitra and stuffed each under one arm as she _sonidoed_ them far enough away that Aizen's fortress and the battling Espada were no longer visible.

"Let go of me, woman!" screamed the Fifth Espada. Nell frowned down at him as he began to squirm.

"You haven't changed, Nnoitra. Reborn as a Shinigami, you are even more like a child. It would be dangerous for me to trust you, if you weren't so much weaker than I." She released her grip and he fell onto the sand. "If you try to harm Orihime again, I will pin down every single one of you limbs and leave you here for the hollows to feed on."

The red-faced Espada spat out a mouthful of sand and glared, but made no other move.

Neliel let go of Orihime a little more gently, and they both sat to rest for a moment. Orihime's gaze settled on the backwards crescent moon, something she remembered staring up at every night from her prison cell. She glanced at Nel to see what she was doing, but her eyes seemed fixed on Nnoitra. Orihime wondered if it was all that wise to let him go free, but the female arrancar had made no move to restrain him. 

"What it true what that idiot Grimmjow said...about Lord Aizen?" he muttered. 

The skull-helmed woman shrugged lightly. "More or less. The details aren't important." 

"But he isn't coming back, is he?" Orihime asked. She needed to be sure. She would never be free from her dream until then. 

Nel smiled at her kindly. "I didn't want to burden you with the story, Orihime-chan. But if it would make you feel better..." she lay back so that she rested completely flat against the sand, startling Orihime, who realized the other woman was no longer keeping an eye on Nnoitra. The auburn-haired girl inched closer to Nel and kept her own careful watch on the Espada. "Where to begin? Well you were there towards the end, I suppose. I saw Rukia-chan perform the konso on you. I think it upset Aizen-sama to see your spirit go free, so he took no more chances and activated the summoning kidou right away. He had runes already painted on the floor of the chamber, but when he began chanting, they started to glow bright red. At that point, we all became frozen in place. Only Aizen-sama was able to move, but it seemed difficult for him, as if he had lost all of his strength. That's when we realized what the kidou was doing; it was draining the spiritual power of everyone in the room." 

Nnoitra snorted in disbelief. "Lord Aizen would never have been stupid enough to let it drain his _own_ energy." 

"I'm not sure he thought the others had sufficient power to summon the King's Key. He had originally counted on Orihime's soul, as well as those of the Vasto Lordes and the two Shinigami captains he had sent to find them. But something must have happened to them as well, because the hollows never came. Aizen-sama cursed them all quite loudly." 

"Ha! Aizen-sama would never lose his cool like that," argued Grimmjow. Orihime herself had trouble imagining such a scene. 

"Well, you have to remember that he wasn't expecting anyone to survive; he probably felt free to act however he wanted around us. He even stripped away his illusions to spare enough of his power for the kidou. The spell was starting to work, and we could all see the Key manifesting. But something was keeping it from forming all the way, and then before long, it was even beginning to come apart. Aizen-sama looked quite desperate at that point, because the arrancar on his side had already given all they had and died. The only ones left were him and us, and of course we were resisting." 

"Did...did anyone else die?" asked Orihime, afraid to hear the answer. 

"Hold on, let me finish," said Neliel, halting any further interruptions. "Aizen-sama couldn't understand why the spiritual energy was growing weaker instead of building up inside the chamber. Something was siphoning it off, and he took one look at me and realized what it was." She paused her storytelling to lift her head and look at her old colleague. "Do you remember that wound you gave me years ago, Nnoitra?" 

Apparently he did, because the Espada suddenly couldn't stop laughing. Nel herself began to lighten up a little and grin. 

"A hollow's mask is the core of their being," she explained, turning to Orihime. "If it is cut deep enough, it will endlessly leak bits of that hollow's power. That's why I looked like a child for so long. Aizen-sama had never paid close enough attention to me, and didn't realize until it was too late that he should never have included me in the summoning circle. As a result, I formed a break in the circuit that was constantly draining away spiritual energy just as Aizen-sama was trying to collect it." 

"But your cut...is it healed now? Are you back to normal?" Orihime asked her. Nel's expression seemed to darken briefly. 

"Well, as you can imagine, Aizen-sama was furious with me. He was about to strike me down with his zanpakuto, but then amazingly, Ichigo found enough strength to resist the kidou and defend me. The two of them were moving so slow, it was like watching people fight underwater. Neither one could land a blow, and at that point Aizen-sama probably realized he was running out of time and had to use every last trick he had. He decided to use the hougyoku on himself." 

Nnoitra stopped his laughing to cast a wide-eyed look at Nel. "You mean he hadn't until then? All that strength and power he had was without even drawing on his hollow?" 

The female arrancar nodded. "Of course all of us already assumed that he had. It was inconceivable to believe that he would have access to even more power. When it finally happened, and Aizen-sama stood before us in his Vizard form wearing that terrifying mask, all of us thought we were finished. The King's Key appeared instantly, drawing most of its energy from _him_, I imagine. Of course if summoning it was so easy, we wondered why he'd bothered going to all that trouble to capture the rest of us. The Shinigami captains later told us that once a soul is tainted by its hollow, it can no longer cross the barrier into the royal dimension, even with the Key. That was why Aizen-sama had hoped our souls would power the Key's creation, and had wanted to wait until after he'd passed through the gate before becoming a Vizard and challenging the Shinigami King." 

"So he was screwed then," pointed out Nnoitra. "Why did he even bother making the Key if he could no longer use it?" 

"Maybe he thought he could find another way, given enough time. Aizen-sama has always been long-sighted." 

Orihime couldn't bear the suspense. "But then what happened to the others?" she cried. "Was everybody killed?" 

Before Neliel could answer, the world shifted.

* * *

Orihime found herself standing in the middle of spring meadow. Bees hummed and birds flew overhead, and everywhere she looked there were colorful flowers in bloom. She couldn't help but gasp in delight at the beauty of the place. 

"You care so much about safety of your friends," remarked a bitter voice that felt both familiar and terribly out of place in these peaceful surroundings. "I wonder if you ever had any such feelings for me?" 

Orihime looked around in surprise. "Ul-Ulquiorra-san?" 

"Then again, you claim to be incapable of emotion--or was that just your excuse for rejecting me, _woman?_" Suddenly he was there, standing directly before her. He looked around as if he had only just realized where he was. 

"I should not be surprised to find your soul in such a place," he remarked. "So simple and fragile. Like your mind." 

She opened her mouth to respond, then seemed to think better of it and shrugged. "This is just a dream," she said, trying to reassure herself. 

"It is not. This is your inner world, woman. I am using my bankai to see into your soul." 

"See...into my soul?" she repeated, feeling a sudden chill run through her. Ulquiorra's eyes seemed to blaze like emerald fire. 

"The sense of sight is a powerful tool. Aizen-sama understood this, as did his blind Shinigami associate, Toussen. Zommari himself used sight as a conduit for his _amor_ attack. My own strength lies in observation. I watch someone until I know exactly how they think, and can predict every move they make. Then I am able to use my abilities to enter their mind, as I am doing with you now. I am not truly here, and yet-" The Espada threw back his arm and slapped her across the face. Orihime pressed her hand against her cheek in surprise, too stunned to cry out. 

"That was nothing compared to what you deserve," seethed the Espada through gritted teeth. 

"No, this is a dream," Orihime repeated firmly. "Ulquiorra would never have done what you just did." 

"Is that what you believe? Because I have a heart? Because I have _feelings_ for you?" he asked mockingly. "Well then, I suppose you have done me a favor." 

"I never did anything to you!" she protested, clenching the hands at her sides into fists. 

Ulquiorra closed his eyes, his face slowly contorting into a grimace of pain. "You hurt me, woman. More than you can imagine. More than perhaps you intended. Nevertheless, when you refused to acknowledge my feelings for you, it forced me to reexamine myself. I realized how great a weakness the human heart could be, and I promised never to leave myself that vulnerable again. I utterly rejected that part of my soul, and in the process, I was able to reach my inner hollow." 

Orihime shook her head in denial. "I...I didn't-" 

"Do you remember what the Vizard said? To become a hollow, you need to destroy the part of you that is directly connected to your soul chain. It seems, woman, that you helped me destroy just the right piece." So saying, he brought a hand up to his face and swept it downward, revealing a bone white mask underneath. 

Orihime recognized the markings on the mask. The tear lines streaking down his face were the same he once wore as an arrancar. The black dots beside the hollow sockets stood out like small eyebrows. But inside those sockets were two eyes that now shone golden instead of emerald green. 

"I would have shared my life with you, Orihime." Ulquiorra's voice sounded distorted behind the leering grin of the hollow mask. "But now I see that you are unworthy." 

His hand shot forward and pierced through her body like a spear. She gasped and crumpled onto her knees, dislodging the hand, which dripped heavily with her blood. Orihime stared at him with a puzzled look as she fell backwards--landing not on a bed of flowers, but on a mound of sand. 

She was back in Hueco Mundo. She rolled her head to the side and saw Nnoitra's unmoving face next to hers, staring up at the sky with a glazed, dead eye. She scrambled backwards to get away from him, noticing the red stain at his side where something had torn a hole through his robes. She looked down at her own clothes, half-expecting a similar stain of blood, but they were whole and clean. 

What, then, had happened? Was Ulquiorra attacking in both the real world and inside her mind? Was she alive and Nnoitra dead only because Ulquiorra's strike towards him had been real, while hers had been an illusion? Or had Nnoitra tried to protect her, using his body as a shield and taking the blow meant for her? 

No, that didn't sound like something he would do. Someone else must have saved her. 

She glanced up as she caught motion at the edge of her vision. Ulquiorra was indeed there, his face hidden behind the hollow skull. His attention was focused on Neliel, who had changed to her centaur form and now menaced him with her lance. He struck his zanpakuto against it, launching angry green sparks into the air. 

"Run Orihime-chan!" urged Nel. "I'll keep him busy." 

The Vizard turned his yellow eyes on Orihime, and she thought she could again feel him trying to claw his way back into her head. She forced her eyes away from his and braced herself to run. 

Ulquiorra was suddenly standing there, blocking her path. "I despise cowards," he growled, pointing his sword at her. "You will wait here for me to finish, woman. If you try to run, I will kill you here and now, as I did him," he said, jerking his head towards Nnoitra. "I won't be long." Orihime nodded weakly, and Ulquiorra reappeared beside Nel. 

The female arrancar narrowed her eyes at him. "Clearly you aren't taking this fight seriously. I guess I'll have to change your mind." 

Her opponent snorted in amusement. "You may have outranked me once, _Tercera Espada_, but I have far surpassed you and the others." So saying, he grabbed hold of her lance--seemingly ignoring the powerful discharge running through it--and snapped it in half. Before the startled centaur could move, he had picked up the pointed end and rammed it through her body. 

Neliel and Orihime both screamed. Nel reverted instantly to her human form and fell limply to the ground. Orihime was about to run to her side, but froze when she saw Ulquiorra turn his head towards her. 

"I will now bring you back with me to Lord Aizen," he told her, sheathing his blade. 

_Aizen? No, he was dead_, she thought in a panic, trying to reassure herself. He must be! _His throne room was destroyed!_

"But...but he's gone," she managed to choke out, watching with dread as Ulquiorra slowly approached her. 

"Don't be a fool. One such as Lord Aizen can never die. He has power over both worlds of the living and the dead." 

"Maybe Aizen can't die," said a brash young voice. "But I'm pretty sure _you_ still can, _Espada_."

Ulquiorra was blasted across the dunes, his body leaving deep grooves in the sand. Before he could struggle to his feet, an orange-haired youth appeared in the air above him, diving down at tremendous speed with his black zanpakuto held in front. Ulquiorra rolled aside just as he was about to be impaled, but he couldn't save himself from being buried under the waves of sand dislodged by the impact.

Orihime didn't dare hope that this was truly a rescue. When she had reached Las Noches and heard that Aizen was gone, she had relaxed her guard--only to have Grimmjow and then Nnoitra attack her. When Neliel had spirited them away, Orihime let herself think she was safe...only to have Ulquiorra appear. Now this stranger had arrived in time to save her, but could she really trust him? He looked so familiar...

_Ichigo_, her memories whispered. _This is Ichigo. The one you used to love_.

Ichigo! Suddenly memories of him came flooding back to her. As she once again realized how important he was to her, she was filled with such light and warmth that she could have sworn that her soul was whole again. She nearly laughed, surprised that she could still do it without being able to feel joy.

She rushed to join him, ignoring Ulquiorra's command to stay still. She was about to shout out Ichigo's name, when she heard him call out to her first.

"Inoue! Are you alright?"

"Ich-...Kurosaki-kun," she answered, faltering a moment as she quickly adjusted to a more formal address. "I'm okay."

"Good. Please do me a favor and heal Nel--that bastard hurt her pretty bad. In the meantime I'll make sure this guy doesn't give us any more trouble, and then I'll take you home."

Orihime struggled to find a way to tell him that she couldn't; that she had lost her healing power. But Ichigo seemed confident that she would carry out his request, and was no longer paying any attention to her anyway. Rather, he was completely focused on parrying Ulquiorra's deadly slashes, as the latter arose from the sand and repeatedly lunged at him with his blade.

"The woman won't be able to help you," Ulquiorra snorted in disdain. "She has lost her power to alter history. Now she is useless."

Hearing her own fears voiced aloud made Orihime tremble, yet she was grateful that her heart was too numb to feel shame. She looked worriedly at Ichigo, wondering if he would think less of her, but he rose instantly to her defense.

"What do powers have to do with anything?" the youth angrily replied. "Inoue's my friend. But I guess you wouldn't understand that, seeing as you've never cared for anyone but that scumbag Aizen."

Ulquiorra's voice once again grew distorted, and Orihime could feel the waves of fury radiating off of him. "You know nothing about me, and I will not tolerate you mocking lord Aizen."

"Give it a rest," drawled Ichigo, sounding annoyed. "Aizen is gone. Most of the suped up powers he got from the hougyoku--which broke, by the way--were lost after making the Key. He then used his illusions to get the hell out of there before any of us could kick his ass. So I wouldn't rag on Inoue if I were you. Your mighty Aizen is probably filling some weakling hollow's belly by now."

Ulquiorra roared as he unleashed cero after cero, filling the night sky with angry green streaks of light. Orihime kept her body flattened against the sand, although none of the attacks appeared to be aimed at her. Ichigo wore a look of concentration, but seemed to have no difficulty dodging them. He fired a few blasts of his own from the shaft of his zanpakuto, but Ulquiorra escaped with similar ease.

"I will show you no mercy this time, Shinigami."

"Good, because I was getting a little bored with this fight," said the boy cockily. "For starters, I'm no _mere_ Shinigami." With a wave of his hand, a skull-shaped mask appeared over Ichigo's face. The yellow eyes glowing from its sockets regarded Ulquiorra with a look of amusement. "Now, let's crank it up a notch!"

The two combatants moved at such speeds that Orihime could no longer follow them with her eyes. Only the immense pressure of their released reiatsu disclosed a general sense of their position and condition. At first both seemed equally matched, although Ichigo's spiritual energy fluctuated so wildly that at times Orihime feared he had been critically wounded. When they finally broke apart, Orihime saw that Ichigo was panting in exhaustion. By contrast, Ulquiorra was not the least bit out of breath, and held his zanpakuto point-down casually before him, as if courteously waiting until his opponent was ready to resume. Both had been bloodied, but Orihime couldn't tell from that distance just how badly they were hurt.

"You aren't fooling anyone, you know," said the Espada dryly. "Your flippant remarks are your pitiful attempt at masking your fear, because you realize that you are outmatched. You only beat me once before with the aid of that traitor, Grimmjow, and here you are alone. To make matters worse for you, my powers have grown since last we met, while yours are about to fade."

So saying, Orihime heard several loud snaps as pieces of Ichigo's hollow mask began breaking off and falling to the ground. She could feel his power level rapidly dropping. Instinctively, she rushed towards him in an effort to protect him.

"You refuse to surrender to your hollow, making you an imperfect hybrid," observed Ulquiorra. "I, on the other hand, have achieved perfect balance, and can maintain my hollow mask indefinitely."

Before Orihime could reach them, Ulquiorra had grabbed Ichigo by the throat, and forced them to lock gazes. "I believe I promised to you show you no mercy," he hissed.

"Don't look into his eyes!" she called out in warning, but it was too late. Ichigo stopped struggling and dangled loosely, his body supported only by Ulquiorra's grip. The Espada suddenly raised his sword.

Orihime reached deeply into herself, willing her legs to run faster. She could not afford to doubt; she had to believe that she was capable of making it there in time. She had witnessed shunpo and sonido many times by now, always being dragged along or carried. But now she would do it on her own. She would save-

Ulquiorra thrust his sword deeply into Ichigo's chest, then with a sadistic laugh, pulled it out and stabbed him again several more times. Blood gushed out from Ichigo's wounds, forming a crimson pool at his feet. Orihime could hear the crack of Ichigo's ribs being splintered from the blows, and could hear him wheezing as the weapon pierced his lungs. She was running her hardest, but it was the speed a normal human would run. She was at her limit, and it still wasn't enough. 

She pulled out Yammy's sword, hoping she could somehow reach out to it again, but it was nothing but dead weight in her hands. With no other recourse, she summoned her shield over Ichigo's body. She had almost reached them when Ulquiorra finally succeeded in shattering the barrier. He then took notice of her, and met her startled eyes with his.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or its characters.

A.N.: A big thank you to all my reviewers: Libeku Taganashi, taixishi, moogledaime, Slade2.0, Yaraia, Shinkicer, Artificial Life Creator, Katty008, xNamine, AzuraVerda, VampireCabbit, kades, Eijimi and bib4eto656. As for the rest of my readers, it's still not too late to drop a quick message and let me know how I'm doing. The ending is only one chapter away, so feedback is crucial to me deciding whether or not to bother with a sequel.

* * *

Once again, Orihime was transported to another realm. This was not the field of flowers that she had last visited, but a place of rooftops and endless skies. Ichigo crouched nearby, his body rent with bloody gashes similar to ones his real body had sustained. Orihime rushed towards him, tortured by the realization that she could no longer heal him. Not knowing what else to do, she leaned over and hugged him, trying not to press hard on his wounds. She could feel Ichigo's breath ease, and he craned his neck around to give her a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, Inoue. I'll still get us out of this."

"Kurosa-- _Ichigo_," she said, finally deciding to use his first name. "Thank you for everything you've done for me. I never wanted to be a burden, but it seems all I do is get people into trouble."

"What are you talking about, Orihime?" he asked her, cocking an eyebrow in surprise. Orihime almost forgot to breathe when she heard him say her own name right back at her. So he _had_ noticed! Had he just been waiting for her to stop calling him by his family name all this time? "You've helped us more times than I can count, and you've never let anyone down. We depend on you, Orihime. That's why I've come to bring you back." He flashed her his trademark charming smile. "The others would have come too, but they're still in recovery. Having hollow regeneration powers does have its advantages."

"It doesn't seem to be doing you much good at the moment," spoke another voice. Ulquiorra materialized beside them, his zanpakuto dripping with blood. "Not that it would make much of a difference. Even whole of body, the outcome would be the same. You will die."

Ichigo grimaced as he shrugged away from Orihime's arms and climbed to his feet. "If I die, I'm planning on taking you with me."

"Yes, of course. Make all the empty threats you wish, if it makes you feel better." Ulquiorra began to advance on them when he suddenly paused, wearing a look of surprise.

"You sure are full of yourself. Too bad for you, there's only room for _one_ cocky son of a bitch in _this_ world."

Ulquiorra vanished. Ichigo and Orihime exchanged looks, then turned to see who had spoken. Orihime couldn't believe her eyes. There was a second Ichigo standing directly behind them, but his skin was as white as a hollow's mask.

"What did you do?" the real Ichigo demanded.

His pale twin smirked. "Sheesh, where are you manners, King? You could say 'thank you for saving my sorry butt yet again'. Or maybe introduce me to your lovely friend here." When Ichigo did nothing but bare his teeth, the other Ichigo sighed. "Have it your way, then. The short of it is that this is your mind, and you--and to some extent, _I_--have more control over it than that Espada. He couldn't stay as long as either of us didn't want him here. That's the weak point of his bankai. On the other hand, you can't escape your mind until he lets you go, either, and in the meantime, he's doing some hefty damage to our body."

"Dammit," swore Ichigo under his breath. Orihime could see him swaying unsteadily on his feet, and wondered if he really was being beaten by Ulquiorra in the real world while his mind was trapped in this one.

"You know, you _could_ let me out," the copy suggested. "I could get us out of this mess."

"Too...too risky," Ichigo grunted, leaning against his sword for support. "I can't set you free if I'm not there to hold you back. There's no way I'm letting a hollow like you loose in the real world."

Orihime gasped in sudden understanding. "That's...that's your hollow?" she asked him.

"That's right, sweet thing. I've gotta tell you, I've been _really_ looking forward to meeting-"

"I don't want you talking to her, you bastard!" Ichigo quickly interrupted him. The hollow laughed. "Whatever you say, King. But you know, she may be just the solution to our problem. She can still escape this place, after all."

Orihime's eyes widened. Ichigo shook his head, forestalling her questions.

"It's no good; even with all her powers, she'd be no match for Ulquiorra. Besides, if he really is slaughtering us out there, it might be better for her not to see what he's doing."

"Please Ichigo, let me try to help," Orihime pleaded. "I still have my Shun Shun Rikka's shield. And this," she said as an afterthought, pulling out Yammy's broken sword. Ichigo looked down at the weapon in surprise.

"Orihime, is that your zanpakuto?"

The hollow Ichigo eagerly reached out and snatched it, then began examining the sword carefully. "Amazing. This is an arrancar zanpakuto." He looked at Orihime with newfound respect.

The girl shook her head. "It belonged to an Espada who was killed. I know it's not much, but I was able to use it a little against Nnoitra."

"It allowed you to draw it," remarked the hollow in disbelief. His golden eyes sparkled with excitement. "This might work after all."

"What might work?" demanded Ichigo. "I don't want you putting Orihime in any danger!"

"Fool, we're already in danger! If we stay here we're as good as dead."

"What do you need me to do?" Orihime asked. She blocked out Ichigo's cries of protest. She had no desire to fight, and felt no courage or rage to lend her strength, but she knew that they had only this one chance to survive. Her protective instincts were one part of her that had remained intact.

"Ichigo has to lend you our powers, the same way that Shinigami girl lent us hers," the hollow carefully explained. "It should awaken your own spirit and restore what was lost."

"THAT'S CRAZY!" Ichigo shouted, startling Orihime. "When Rukia stabbed me, it forced my soul out of my body--I literally _died_. Orihime's _already_ dead _and_ her soul's been purified. Who knows what this might do to her? It could kill whatever's left of her, and this time she won't be coming back!"

"If this doesn't kill her, the Espada out there will. At least this gives us a chance," reasoned the other Ichigo.

_So that's how it happened_, Orihime thought to herself. Ichigo had never gone into detail about how Rukia had turned him into a Shinigami. Did that mean that Ichigo would have to use his sword on her, and possibly kill her in the process?

She pushed those dark thoughts aside; it would do her no good to worry about what couldn't be helped. "It's okay, Ichigo," she reassured him. "Do what you have to."

Ichigo shook his head at her angrily. "I don't think you realize what's involved, here, Orihime. Even if this works, do you really think you can kill Ulquiorra? He'd be a challenge even for a skilled Shinigami captain." _And you're neither skilled, nor a Shinigami_, were the unspoken words that followed, though Orihime knew what he was thinking.

"I think this will help her do the job," said the hollow, handing Orihime back her weapon. "The zanpakuto is still pissed that it failed to protect its old master. It'll be more than happy to spill some blood."

Ichigo shook his head, but no longer sounded so sure of himself. "I still think this is a bad idea," he muttered.

"Just hurry up and do it," said his hollow impatiently. "The longer we stand here, the more our body's getting cut up!"

With a grim expression, the orange-haired boy gripped his zanpakuto with both hands and aimed its point at Orihime's chest. She reflexively shied away from the deadly weapon, but Ichigo's face now looked determined, and without further pause, he thrust the blade through her heart.

* * *

Orihime blinked back tears of pain as she looked down, expecting to see Ichigo's sword sticking through her body. Her friend was still leaning forward with his arms outstretched, but to her surprise, his zanpakuto had vanished. Her own hand now clutched Yammy's zanpakuto, its blade restored to full length. Black Shinigami robes flapped in the wind around her, having replaced the white arrancar dress.

She was back in Hueco Mundo. Ulquiorra stood only a few feet away, watching her warily.

"So, that brat succeeded in restoring your soul. I must say, it gratifies me to see you this way. Now you should be able to feel pain, and you just might have the strength to survive long enough for me to torture you, the way you tortured me."

Orihime caught the flicker of movement as he began to sonido, and felt a tug from her sword that raised her own arm up in time to block the attack. As their blades clashed together, his hollow eyes glared back at her. Orihime quickly lowered her gaze.

"Do not trouble yourself; I won't use my bankai on you. I'd prefer you to feel every cut I give you." So saying, he swept back his arm and took aim at her head, but Orihime ducked to get out of the way. The Espada suddenly reversed his momentum and aimed downwards instead, and Orihime was just barely able to leap back and miss being sliced in half. As it was, the blade cut a deep gash in her shoulder. Her whole right arm was paralyzed and numb, and she knew that she would be no longer be able to use Yammy's zanpakuto.

"Will hurting me really make you feel better?" she asked him earnestly, wincing as she pressed down on her shoulder to stop the bleeding.

"It might. If your friend is correct and lord Aizen will not return, I have nothing else to live for. Perhaps if I had _you_... but it seems that is not an option."

He again raised his blade to strike. At the last second Orihime summoned her shield, surprised to see that it looked different than before. It was now dome-shaped like her healing barrier, protecting her from all sides. The fairy creatures were also absent, and she worried that something might have happened to them. But if that were the case, wouldn't she feel different? Wouldn't she feel...

Orihime then realized that she actually felt no different than she had since her resurrection. But how could that be? Weren't her powers now restored? She should be able to connect with the parts of her soul that her three lost Shun Shun Rikka represented--Shun'ou's confidence and determination, Tsubaki's strength and will to fight, and Ayame's pure heart and emotions. Why then did she still feel so numb inside?

"Again you cower behind that pathetic shield. I grow tired of your antics, woman. Show me your bankai. Let's end this fight honorably!"

Orihime's jaw dropped in surprise. "My...bankai?" she asked him slowly, needing a moment to remember what that word meant. "B-but Ulquiorra-san, I never learned how to use this sword! I can barely even keep my grip on it!"

The Espada answered her excuses with several angry swipes of his zanpakuto, which clanged uselessly against the energy barrier protecting her. Orihime wondered how long this new improved shield might hold. She realized that it had been a mistake to think she could ever fight Ulquiorra, and that the only help she could give Ichigo now was by stalling the Espada and hopefully give her friend enough time to escape from his mind.

"You are either pretending to be dimwitted to try and throw me off balance, or you are indeed hopelessly naive," Ulquiorra growled. "As a mere human, you had the powers of a _god!_ These last few days, even at only half-strength, you walked among Espada as an equal, because everyone could sense your potential. Now your spirit has been restored and you stand here in Shinigami robes bearing an arrancar zanpakuto. How can you still pretend to be unable to fight me!?"

He slammed both fists against her shield, ignoring the burns as his skin began to smoke and blister on contact.

"Ulquiorra-san, please stop!" she cried, disturbed by the sight of his self-inflicted injuries. "You're hurting yourself!"

"What do you care of my pain, woman?" he barked in reply. "You have taken everything from me! Will you not even let me keep my pride? Must I beg you to fight me?" After several more angry pounds against the shield, he continued, "Why do you insist on insulting me further?"

When Orihime was unable to answer, he suddenly changed tactics. Before she could react, he had grabbed Ichigo and held his sword against the boy's neck.

"Lower your shield and fight me now, or I will saw off his head! That is an injury even his hollow cannot repair."

The barrier vanished instantly at her silent command. Orihime's heart began to pound painfully in her chest. With Ulquiorra holding him so close, she would be unable to throw a new shield over Ichigo. She had just lost her only means of saving him.

"Now, fight me!" he urged, still keeping his grip on her friend. "Show me your rage at having been humiliated! Glory in the powers that are yours, and prove to me how inferior I am! Mock me for daring to love you, and ever thinking you could love _me!_" he shouted in a shaky voice.

Orihime closed her eyes and shook her head from side to side, denying his words. "I can't!" she protested. "I tried to tell you before, Ulquiorra-san..._I_ _can't feel anything_. Even now, when you say I should have been restored, I'm still missing a part of my soul. I can't fight you, Ulquiorra-san. Even if I knew how, I don't have the strength. But you're right, I did hurt you, and for that, I am very sorry. If it's what you want, I...I will let you hurt me in return. Just please, let Ichigo go. He was only trying to save me. You wanted to save me too, once..." She let her sentence trail off, hoping those last words would give Ulquiorra pause to reconsider going after Ichigo. It was the only way she could think of to help her friend now.

She knelt down to lower Yammy's sword to the ground in surrender, but Ulquiorra's voice stopped her.

"Do _NOT _put down your sword, woman. I will not fight an unarmed opponent."

She set her mouth in a grim smile and straightened. "I might as well be unarmed. I told you I don't know how to use this thing."

"You may not, but your other half will. I wish to meet your hollow, woman. You will summon her now, if you wish your friend to live."

Her smile quickly faded. "I'm sorry, but you're wrong. I don't have a hollow."

Now it was his turn to smile. "Do you remember the three methods the Vizard told us a soul could use to become a hollow? One was to have a hollow graft its powers onto you."

"But I never-" she started to say, before Ulquiorra interrupted her with a wave of his hand.

"What did you think would happen when you accepted an arrancar's zanpakuto--the essence of his hollow power--as your own?"

Her heart skipped a beat as she looked down at the deadly weapon in her hand. She could almost hear the Tenth Espada's laughter in her mind.

"If you say that your soul is divided and incomplete, the half of you that is missing must be with your hollow. Therefore, you will summon that hollow and fight me, until one of us lies here dead."


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or its characters.

Hollows were the enemy. It was a lesson she had learned, though more from overhearing Ichigo describe his fights to protect Karakura town than from her own experience. Orihime had only faced a hollow twice, and one of those times it had been her own brother. Her brother had seemed more confused than hostile, and had redeemed himself in the end. Her other encounter--well, it had been a standard hollow, from what Ichigo and the others had told her. A creature than enjoyed manipulating humans and causing them pain, before feeding on their souls.

Since then she had also met arrancar, who were hollows at their core but appeared human. She had not been surprised by the few who had mistreated her while she was held prisoner at Las Noches, but she had expected far worse. Ulquiorra and Grimmjow had displayed human feelings--albeit warped--and been capable of showing mercy and understanding. Neliel had fought against her own kind to save her and Ichigo.

The most evil soul she had ever met had not even been a hollow, but a Shinigami, one of those entrusted with protecting the peace of Soul Society. Of course Aizen had since then awakened his hollow, and if he still lived, Orihime could not imagine what he would be like now.

Despite all this, Orihime shuddered at the thought of coming in contact with her own darker half. What if it took over and never let her regain control? It was the one fear Ichigo had voiced to her when he had tried to explain what it was like to be a Vizard. And now, if this succeeded, she would have to deal with that risk herself.

She tightened her grip on the zanpakuto and sent a thought towards it. _Yammy-san, can you hear me?_

The surrounding desert shimmered like a dissolving mirage, and flowers began growing at her feet. The vegetation stopped sprouting abruptly a few feet away, as if an invisible boundary stood there. Meanwhile, the flowers continued to spread, until the world was divided into both meadow and desert. Ulquiorra and the others had all disappeared, and she realized that had been drawn back into her mind--this time by her zanpakuto's spirit instead of Ulquiorra.

The Tenth Espada waited for her at the boundary. He threw her a bored look and muttered, "About time you called."

"Yammy-san," she bowed awkwardly in greeting. "Thank you for helping me use the sword. I'm very sorry, but I need to ask you another favor-"

The large dark-skinned arrancar cut her off. "My name isn't Yammy. I was _his_ zanpakuto, and now I'm _your_ zanpakuto, at least until you die. I'm not too thrilled with the arrangement, but at least this keeps me alive a little bit longer." He snorted in wry amusement. "At the moment, that isn't looking very long at all."

"Um...what should I call you then?" she asked uncertainly, wondering if the sword's spirit would cooperate. The Yammy look-alike crossed his arms over his wide chest.

"Right now I don't respect you enough to tell you my name. You're weak and pathetic, and until you show me otherwise, there's no way I'm letting you release me."

Orihime tried not to get discouraged, and wondered what she could say to change its mind. If the sword's spirit lived inside her, surely it was already aware that she had lost access to most of her powers. It was not her fault that she was so weak!

"But I need you to fight Ulquiorra-san, or he'll kill Ichigo!" she cried.

The spirit spat at the ground in disgust. "It's not my help you should be asking," he told her. "It's your hollow."

"But..." Orihime was confused. Hadn't Ulquiorra told her that Yammy's zanpakuto was her hollow?

Yammy shook his head and made a sound of annoyance. "No," he answered, reading her thoughts. "I'm just your sword. An_ arrancar's_ sword. Your making me a part of you helped awaken your hollow, but it's got nothing to do with me. As things stand, I'm more likely to cooperate with _her_ than with you, but we'll just have to wait and see."

"Orihime!" shouted several voices in unison. Small winged creatures were suddenly hovering around her, and she recognized the three Shun Shun Rikka she had met before. Now she could even remember their names, and greeted them accordingly. "Hinagiku! Lily! Baigon! Thank you for helping me so many times. That new shield is wonderful, but I was worried when I didn't see you making it."

"Now that you're a Shinigami, you don't need us to manifest your powers for you, Orihime," said Baigon seriously.

"But that doesn't mean we won't be in this realm any time you want to come visit!" Lily smiled.

"Even if it _is_ getting rather crowded in here these days," muttered Hinagiku.

Suddenly three more winged creatures materialized around her. Orihime couldn't believe her eyes. ...Could it be-?

"Ayame! Shun'ou! Tsubaki! You're back! You're alive!" she cried in amazement, reaching out for them. Here was proof that her powers were fully restored, and more importantly, her friends had returned! She hadn't fully realized before now how much she had missed them. Yet why did she still not feel whole?

She hadn't noticed that the first three fairies had shied away from the newcomers in fear.

"No, Orihime, stay away from them. They work with _her _now," cautioned Hinagiku.

"Hey, we're still the old us!" protested Shun'ou, punching Hinagiku in the shoulder. "It's not our fault we got resurrected with that nasty hollow."

"Unfortunately, because of that, we can't help you unless you're accessing your hollow powers, Orihime," said Ayame sadly.

"At least the hollow likes to fight," grinned Tsubaki. "Now I'll be a lot more useful!"

"Assuming Orihime even lets that creature loose," snorted Hinagiku in disapproval. "I would highly recommend against it."

Baigon shook his head. "If she doesn't, Ulquiorra will kill Ichigo, and likely her next."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" asked a deep voice that Orihime recognized as a distorted version of her own. Behind the boundary, another image shimmered in the desert, forming a vaguely human-shaped silhouette. The shadows merged and took solid shape, until at last Orihime could see that the figure looked just like her, wearing her old arrancar robes. Its skin was much paler, however, and the eyes were sunken with golden irises.

"I still haven't said yes," the hollow grinned.

Hinagiku guffawed loudly. "As if you'd turn down the chance to take over Orihime and all her powers."

"It's not worth the risk, Orihime," said Ayame in her usual soft voice. "Think of all the people the hollow might hurt. Even if it means that you and Ichigo might die, imagine how much worse you'd feel if what you did destroyed innocent lives."

Baigon cried out in protest at the suggestion of Orihime dying, but before he could say anything, the hollow spoke.

"How much worse she'd feel? You forget, at the moment she can't feel anything. Not while I have control of you." So saying, the hollow swept her arm through the air, and suddenly the three newly resurrected Shun Shun Rikka reappeared in the desert beside her.

"It doesn't matter if I can feel or not," declared Orihime, finally speaking out. "I still know what's right and wrong. I won't put our lives above those of innocents. I'll just have to think of another way to save Ichigo."

The hollow rolled her yellow eyes. "Stop being so dramatic. I never said I _wouldn't_ help you."

"Don't trust her," Hinagiku hissed in Orihime's ear. "Don't agree to any deal she offers."

The zanpakuto's spirit--which had been lounging on the grass and seemingly paying no attention to the entire conversation, suddenly glanced up at Orihime. "Actually, any deal the hollow makes with you _is_ binding. Just make sure you say exactly how much control you're willing to give it, and for how long."

Orihime's pale twin grimaced. "You didn't have to remind her about all that, but I guess if it makes her trust me..."

"Fine," said Orihime, jumping on the opportunity. She knew that she didn't have much time before Ulquiorra's patience ran out. "I'll let you take over to fight Ulquiorra, but only if you agree not to attack anyone else, and to give me back full control any time I want it."

"Done," smiled the hollow. She glanced down at the zanpakuto's spirit. "I assume you're going to cooperate."

The Yammy look-alike heaved a loud sigh. "As if I had any choice."

* * *

Once again she was in Hueco Mundo. Orihime was almost getting used to these odd transitions. Ulquiorra waited expectantly nearby, his sword still aimed at an unconscious Ichigo's neck.

"Are you ready?" he asked her.

Feeling detached from her body, Orihime watched as her hand lifted of its own accord and swept across her face. As her field of vision was obstructed by a writhing white fluid, she heard her hollow's distorted voice call out a challenge. In seconds, the white substance solidified into a mask, and Orihime was peering through skull-like sockets at her opponent. He continued to hold onto Ichigo, until Orihime felt the world shift in a burst a speed, and suddenly her zanpakuto was drawn and clashing against Ulquiorra's blade. He had dropped Ichigo to the ground, and though Orihime wanted to look down and make sure he was all right, her eyes were forcibly drawn to the battle at hand.

As their blades danced, Orihime was surprised to find herself filled with excitement and determination--a sensation she hadn't experienced since her death. At last she had a purpose again, which made her feel like an incredible burden had been lifted from her shoulders. Her spirit was once again filled with joy and hope for the future, and she sent out thoughts of warmth and love to Ichigo and the rest of her friends who had stood by her all this time.

_Stop that_, the hollow projected to her irritably. _Your gushy emotions are making me sick!_

Rather than risk distracting the hollow and cause her to lose the fight, Orihime withdrew slightly from her body's consciousness. She was vaguely aware when the hollow had released her zanpakuto, somehow calling it without allowing Orihime to overhear its name. The blade was now made up of interlocking V's, resembling the shape of her Shun Shun Rikka's wings. She watched as her hollow shot off several at once, which streaked through the air and tore through Ulquiorra's body just as Tsubaki would have done. New V's then appeared at the base of her sword, replacing the ones that were spent.

Despite these injuries, Ulquiorra only seemed to grow stronger, now firing green ceros with every swipe of his sword. Orihime's shield flickered in and out of existence in time to block each one. The Espada showed neither sign of concern nor confidence about his chances as he silently absorbed her attacks. He continued to refuse using his bankai to trap her mind, despite many opportunities of doing so.

This did not stop her hollow from calling out her own bankai. Orihime was surprised to find that the sword's transformation also changed her clothes back into white arrancar robes. This seemed to boost her hollow's power, and she could feel it gathering reiatsu for the next attack.

"Are you prepared to die, Espada?" she heard herself ask him.

Ulquiorra looked up at her with his golden eyes, his expression hidden beneath the mask, yet the streaks running down his face seemed to glisten. "Always," he replied, sounding both tired and resigned.

"Santen Kis-" she heard herself begin to say, and in horror, Orihime recognized the incantation. This was the ultimate form of her rejection power--the one she had tried to use to utterly erase the hougyoku from the pages of history. If she used this on Ulquiorra, it would make it as if he had never existed.

_STOP!_ she shouted to her hollow, struggling to regain control. Her darker half resisted, now bloodthirsty for the kill. Yet the agreement had been to give Orihime control when she wanted it, and slowly, the hollow gave in. Not, however, before finishing the incantation:

"SANTEN KISSHUN, I REJECT!"

The ball of golden energy roared like an inferno as it blasted through the air, heading straight for Ulquiorra. Part of Orihime's mind stayed frozen in shock, mesmerized by the way the fiery sphere melted the sand beneath it into a trail of steaming glass. Yet it also suddenly registered to her that despite her being in control, the hollow mask still clung to her face. She then heard the hollow's voice in her head tauntingly suggest that she try stopping the fireball--if she could.

Orihime burst into motion. If she had the hollow's powers, she should also have its speed. She didn't waste time thinking about what she was doing; she simply willed her body to move fast enough to intercept the ball of energy. She could feel it when she started moving at superhuman speeds--the world around her blurred and a lightheaded feeling came over her. She held the zanpakuto in front of her, planning to use it to knock the energy ball aside or somehow disperse it. Since the attack had shot out of her sword, it stood to reason that the weapon was immune to its effects.

She should have known that she would be too late.

If there had been time for her to stop it, Ulquiorra would also have had the time to dodge. Her hollow must have known this. She could hear it snickering in the back of her head.

When the energy impacted against the Espada's body, the shockwave knocked Orihime back, causing her to break out of the sonido. The bright light from the explosion had blinded her hollow eyes, and she searched for him now by the feel of his fading reiatsu rather than by sight. As she stumbled forward, she wondered if there would be anything left of him to find.

Just as she spotted Ulquiorra, his hollow mask and sword crumbled into dust. His gaze fixed on his empty hands as he swayed, dropping to his knees to steady himself. As he looked up as her, Orihime could see that his irises had reverted to a calm turquoise green.

"It's...gone," he said flatly, and then turned his face away.

Orihime wasn't exactly sure what he was talking about, but she didn't let that bother her. All she cared about now was that he was still breathing.

_I must be crazy_, she mused. _He's my enemy, but I don't want him to die!_

"Ulquiorra-san, I'm sorry that the blast hit you. I tried to stop it, but-"

The Espada hissed as he drew a sharp breath, though whether it was from pain or anger, she couldn't tell.

"Don't regret your actions, woman. You did exactly what I asked you to. One of us had to die."

"But..." Orihime made a quick assessment of his injuries, and couldn't see anything that should be life-threatening, especially not to an arrancar. "But Ulquiorra-san, you don't look that badly hurt."

Ulquiorra chuckled mirthlessly. "You do not realize what you've done. Your attack was perfect. It should have killed me. But as I was in Vizard form, my hollow took the brunt of the blow, and now it has ceased to exist."

"That's...that's great news, Ulquiorra-san!" she cried happily. It must have been his hollow that had taken control of Ulquiorra and made him want to hurt her. Now that it was gone, he would be back to normal. And now that Aizen was gone, she would have nothing left to fear from him. They could be...

Her head turned to stare at the body of Ichigo Kurosaki lying still upon the sand, his chest rising and falling ever so slowly.

_What about **him**?_ her hollow wondered. _Isn't **he** the one you've always wanted?_

"I...I don't know..." she answered softly, still watching Ichigo. They had just started to call each other by their first names. She had seen the inside of his soul, something no one else had ever been privy to. And he had come all this way to rescue her--yet _again_. She owed him more than she could ever repay.

"Look at me, Orihime. I don't have much time."

Her attention was immediately drawn back to the Espada.

"What do you mean, Ulquiorra-san? Where are you going?" she asked him urgently. Was he really going to leave her?

The man released a painful sigh. "I'm not certain. Remember when I asked you, long ago, what heaven was like? But...I don't think that is where I shall go."

"B-but you said you were okay! You said the hollow was destroyed trying to protect you!"

He narrowed his green eyes at her in slight annoyance. "Have you forgotten where I came from, woman? My soul was born a hollow. The Shinigamis' wretched konso might cleanse my soul by removing its memories and hollow powers, but it cannot replace my core. Without the hollow spirit, I am but an empty shell. Even now, I am beginning to unravel." He motioned at his body, where spirit particles were slowly rising into the air.

"All this time, the Espada and I have felt a yearning to reestablish contact with our hollow selves, just as strongly as you yearned for the missing pieces of your soul. But once I was finally whole, it became impossible to separate my hollow from the rest of me. Now that it is gone, my ties to this world have been severed."

"Then I'll bring it back!" Orihime cried in desperation, trying not to think too hard about the reality of what she was about to do. "With this mask on, I can use all my powers." She called out to her Shin Shun Rikka. "Ayame, Shun'ou!"

The two fairies circled over the Espada, but did not form the healing barrier. Shon'ou hovered in front of Orihime's face, bowing in apology.

"I'm sorry, Orihime. We're a part of your hollow now, ever since you first summoned Santen Kisshun to unmake the hougyoku. Now our powers can no longer be used to restore; only to destroy."

Orihime froze in shock and dismay. Her healing powers were gone forever? That was the price of using Santen Kisshun? But she had only used it against Aizen's weapon in order to help save Ichigo and the others!

_Your innocent soul was not meant to desire death and destruction_, the hollow laughed at her. _The moment you turned from that path, I was born. It was not Aizen who took your Rikka fairies away from you and split your soul in two. It was **you**._

"It is better for us both that I die," Ulquiorra remarked softly. "It is as I have said; without your love, I have nothing to live for." Before Orihime could argue, he pressed his fingers to her mask to silence her. "It is better this way. You should not associate with hollows, or you risk your own soul being corrupted. Already you speak such blasphemy as wanting to spare my life, or restoring my hollow self, that any Shinigami that overheard would accuse you of treason."

"I don't care what they think," she pouted, looking away, but Ulquiorra grabbed her arms with both hands to get her attention.

"You must!" he insisted, shaking her. "You are dead now, Orihime, and cannot return to your old life. They will not allow you to stay in the human world, especially not if they knew you were a Vizard. You must keep your hollow a secret, Orihime, and never show them your bankai." A pointed nod at her arrancar robes explained the reason why. "Go with them to the Seireitei. Explain to them that Aizen destroyed your powers; they can teach you other ways to heal. Surrounded by so many Shinigami, your hollow will be less eager to reveal itself, and your soul will be safe."

_Foolish nonsense_, her hollow spat. _I already control half of your soul. Without me, your heart will never again feel hope or joy; your confidence will be shattered; and you will never even have the skill or will to lift your sword. The Shinigami will mock you and pity you for thinking you could be one of them. You will-_

Orihime had heard enough. She finally wrenched the mask off her face, and listened as the hollow's cries faded into silence. Before her heart had a chance to grow numb, she lowered her face to kiss Ulquiorra gently on the lips. She saw his mouth curl into a grateful smile as he moved into the embrace. Orihime felt one last burst of pure joy before that too faded, and her emotions were once again sealed away by the hollow.

"Goodbye," the Espada whispered, before his body broke apart into sparkling spirit fragments. Orihime watched them scatter in the breeze, mesmerized by the patterns, until she heard Ichigo begin to stir.

"Ugh, that bastard Ulquiorra is gonna pay," he groaned loudly. Orihime suppressed a flicker of anger that she was surprised she could still feel, and quickly dried the tears rolling down her cheeks. She would properly mourn the Espada later, when she had a moment alone. Right now she had to be strong, and not show Ichigo how much her old captor had actually meant to her. She knew he wouldn't understand.

Orihime wandered over to where Ichigo lay, willing for her bankai to disperse, and watched as her robes darkened back into Shinigami black. She did not want her old friend to see the dress and guess at what it might mean. She supposed she would never see that white arrancar dress again, yet at that realization, she suffered another pang of loss. The robes were a sign of her enslavement to Aizen, but they had also been a link between her and the Espada. Since her resurrection, Orihime had thought herself one of them, and she had felt comfort in that sense of belonging to a family again.

"So he's dead then?" the boy asked as he finally sat up, looking around and seeing no sight of Ulquiorra. Orihime nodded wordlessly, not trusting herself to speak just then. Ichigo then gave her an appraising look.

"Seems you beat him after all. I'm sorry I ever doubted you, Orihime-chan," he said, scratching his head awkwardly. "I just didn't think you had it in you."

"Neither did I, Kurosaki-kun," she said sadly.

"Hey, what's with the family name? I thought we had finally moved past that," he grinned at her, carefully climbing to his feet. Though his injuries looked extensive, they barely seemed to bother him. Nevertheless, it was difficult for Orihime to look at his wounds, knowing that she could no longer heal them. She idly wondered what her role in their little group of friends was supposed to be now.

Ichigo hobbled over to where Neliel lay, and breathed a sigh of relief when he examined her. Orihime felt a twinge of guilt--again, an emotion she was surprised she could feel--at not having checked on the female Espada earlier. Of course, there had been a lot of things keeping her distracted at the time.

"It's a good thing Grimmjow used the last of the hougyoku's energy to heal that cut on her skull," Ichigo observed, kneeling down to scoop up the green-haired arrancar in his arms. "Otherwise I'm not sure she would have survived this. We should probably take her back to him now and see what he can do for her."

Orihime did a mental double-take. _Neliel and Grimmjow?_ But she remained silent, still stung by the recent news that her healing powers had been stripped away, which now forced Ichigo to seek medical help elsewhere.

Whether it was because he didn't want to risk further injuring Nel with a shunpo, or because he didn't think Orihime would be able to keep up, Ichigo led them back to the fortress of Las Noches at a brisk walk. They spent that time in reflective silence, which gave Orihime a chance to collect herself, so that by the time they saw the broken towers of Aizen's palace, she was relatively calm. She vaguely wondered whether the battle between Grimmjow and the other Espada was still going on. When they finally reached the doorstep of Las Noches, the relative peace and quiet answered her question.

"So you got Nel's message after all," Grimmjow said, materializing before them. When he recognized Nel lying comatose in Ichigo's arms, his eyes hardened.

"Sorry, she insisted on going on ahead, and Ulqiorra got to her before I could stop him," Ichigo explained, lowering Nel gently to the ground. Grimmjow was instantly kneeling beside her, running his hands over her injuries.

"It's okay, she'll make it," the arrancar said after a few moments, sighing in relief.

"What happened here?" Ichigo asked, finally taking in the surrounding destruction. "I don't remember this place looking so trashed when we left it."

"Oh, me and some ex-Espada got in a little bit of an argument, and I had to teach them a lesson," the arrancar grinned. "They all look a hell of a lot worse than Nel here does. I just haven't decided what to do with them yet."

"You sent Nel-chan to tell my friends where I was?" Orihime asked him in surprise. "But if you wanted to help me, why did you first attack me with the others?"

The Espada shrugged, ignoring the glare Ichigo threw in his direction. "I wasn't actually aiming for you, and I knew you could defend yourself. What counted was making the others know I wasn't trying to save you. Otherwise they might have used that against me."

"Whatever you decide to do with them, don't let them escape Hueco Mundo," Ichigo warned him, still scowling.

"Yeah yeah, I remember our agreement." Grimmjow's gaze then settled on Orihime. "What about her, then?"

Orihime froze, holding her breath. Could he actually know about her hollow?

"What about her?" Ichigo repeated, sounding mildly annoyed. "I'm taking her home."

"Oh? Are you sure the Shinigami will like that?"

When Ichigo merely quirked an eyebrow at him in confusion, the Espada laughed. "Fine then, I'll let you figure it out on your own. Stay safe, Ichigo. Don't take this the wrong way, but I hope we never meet again." So saying, Grimmjow slashed through the air with his zanpakuto, ripping a hole in the sky.

Ichigo's zanpakuto, Orihime noticed, was still missing. She was a little surprised he hadn't mentioned it. "As long as you don't give me reason to come back here, that's a promise," the orange-haired boy smiled at him. "Please thank Nel for me."

Before Orihime knew what was happening, Ichigo had grabbed hold of her waist and leapt high into the air, straight into the black maw of the garganta.

Then they were through the portal, and true sunlight draped over Orihime's shoulders like a warm blanket. She looked down at Karakura town fondly, unable to believe that she was finally home to stay. Ulquiorra's words of caution gnawed at her, however. Was she putting everyone in danger by being here?

"Are you all right, Orihime-chan?" Ichigo asked her, feeling her shiver. He was somehow using his powers to slow their descent through the sky.

She faltered for a moment, still unused to hearing him call her by that name. "Yes, thank you, Kuro-...Ichigo-kun. Thank you for saving me."

* * *

A.N.: Ah, so much more could be said, but then this story would never end, and I think I'm running out of steam. I hope you each found something enjoyable in this fic, whether it be the UlqxHime or IchixHime bits (and who knows if Ulq will ever return, or if Ichi is actually going to start paying attention to Orihime now) or the actual plot of the story (I'd like to think there's more to Orihime than just whose prize she ends up being). I've been playing with the idea of a sequel not just to this fic, but one that incorporates the plots of my other two Bleach fics. If I don't ever get around to it, I apologize in advance for this sudden ending. Thanks again to those of you who sent me reviews--they were much appreciated.


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